A Study in Magic
by HurricaneRelic
Summary: Harry Potter stumbled into the library while hiding from Dudley and his gang. Finding a book to pass time, Harry comes across the great Sherlock Holmes. Taking on Holmes as his role model, Harry starts to emulate the great detective. How will the world adapt to a Harry with astute powers of observation and keen deduction skills?
1. A New Role Model

**A Study in Magic**

Chapter 1: _A New_ _Role Model  
_ ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~

"Hey freak, you ready to play? I'll just go grab my friends." Dudley said as he waddled out the door.

School was finally over, but Harry couldn't catch a break. Dudley had decided to be a _kind and caring_ soul today and warn Harry about the games he was going to forcibly partake in, before Dudley left to gather the rest of his gang. Harry Hunting: the preferred pastime of Dudley and his friends, and the least favorite time for Harry. He guessed that Dudley was still mad about the boa constrictor incident and bored without other kids to pick on too. Harry was sure that he was Dudley's favorite target.

Harry decided that he had to get out of the house. He had been trapped in the house before on previous occasions and none of them were pleasant; once they were joking about how Stonewall High had a tradition of dunking the new students heads into toilets, and since Dudley and Piers weren't going with Harry, they decided to fulfill the tradition on their own anyways. Getting out of the house, he at least had space to run around and try to evade Dudley's gang, though Harry wasn't sure how far he could run. He wasn't bursting with energy, considering that he was only given the bare minimum food to survive. He headed out to get a head start against his whale of a cousin.

Harry strolled down the street towards the playground, throwing constant looks behind him so he wouldn't be caught unawares. It was the only place he could think of immediately. There were a few kids running around and screaming when Harry got to the playground. He sat down on one of the swings and just lightly swung back and forth. One of the kids tripped and fell, scraping his knee against on the ground. Harry watched as the mother rushed and fussed over the lightly bleeding knee, he wondered if his parents had ever treated him like that or if Aunt Petunia or Uncle Vernon would ever do that for him. He doubted they would. He wished that he could be running around and enjoying the life these kids had without having to worry about Dudley ruining his day.

Speak of the devil, Harry noticed four people walking down the street. How could he have forgotten that Polkiss's house was in that direction. In an instant, Harry hopped of the swing set and set a brisk walking pace in the other direction, having already decided to not stick around for Dudley to notice him.

Too late.

Someone shouted something, Harry guess it was a whale belting out something, perhaps ordering his gang forward. Not wanting to find out what it actually was, Harry tore down the street taking random turns to try and shake them off his tail. By the time Harry was out of breath, his lungs on fire and his feet like jelly, he sneaked a quick peek behind him, noting that Dudley and his gang were just as out of breath. He had put some distance between them.

Despite being malnourished, Harry was thankful that Dudley was big and fat. He was also grateful that no one in their group was particularly athletic – who needed athleticism when they just beat people up and intimidated them, they had no one to run from. Harry had to hurry up and find someplace to rest though, he couldn't keep up running away forever.

Harry came around the corner of the street, panting hard and found himself by the library. A thought struck him, Dudley was big _and stupid_. There was no way he or his gang would be caught alive in a library. The very thought of books likely made Dudley's brain short-circuit.

Harry sucked in a lungful of air, hopefully this is the last bit he would need to run for a while. He exhausted most of his energy, but needed to get into the library quickly. He took off down the street again, and hoped that he could make it before Dudley's gang rounded the corner.

Harry entered the cool air-conditioned environment of the library, immediately greeted by the old paper book smell. Harry became acutely aware of how loud his breathing was, as the rest of the library was extremely quiet except for the occasional wrinkling of paper as someone turned a page in a book. Harry tried to calm his breathing, taking deep breaths and trying to slowly let it out. As his breathing came under control, Harry then noted that his heart seemed to be beating loud enough for others to hear; it was still pounding from the exertion of the run.

Harry briefly wondered that if Dudley and his gang had paused outside of the library, they might hear his heart beating traitorously loudly, announcing his presence in such a quiet environment. Harry decided that he wouldn't risk it and headed deep into the library, hoping to put as many bookshelves and books between him and door.

After Harry had sufficiently calmed down – and his breathing and heart rate were under control – he decided that he would stay in the library for a while. Surely Dudley and company would get bored if they couldn't find the Harry in Harry Hunting; they would have nothing to hunt. Harry decided to pull off a book from the shelf he was leaning against and went to find the nearest couch or chair to crash on.

His legs promptly melted from the heat they gave off themselves and Harry fell face first into the couch. With some twisting around and gingerly moving his non-responsive legs, he found a comfortable position and cracked open the book he was reading. He noted the title of the book _The Complete_ _Sherlock Holmes_.

Harry found himself jolted out of the story hours later when the library announced that it was closing. Fascinated by this Sherlock Holmes, his powers of observation and skills of deduction, Harry imagined the possibilities if he had those skills. Running out of time today, Harry dreaded heading back home.

At least he was glad to have finished all of his chores earlier in the day, before taking off and hiding from Dudley, but knowing Uncle Vernon, he was still going to get punished for something. Perhaps it would be for being gone most of the day, or for not being around to entertain Dudley, or something as innocent as being alive.

It turned out that when he did get home he did get punished. Vernon was waiting for him, red-faced and spitting fire. It was his fault he missed out on dinner they said – "and for not cooking dinner boy! I expected you to have been home and for dinner to be waiting for us!" Harry got shoved into the cupboard and locked in, and given just a small piece of bread as his dinner.

-==SiM==-

Harry soon found himself in the library during all of his free time. The books scattered around him were on subjects all over the place: some were fiction, other Sherlock Holmes short stories or general criminal fiction, others were nonfiction, books on forensics and chemistry, books on anatomy and British law. His study had the added benefit of avoiding Dudley and his gang all the time now. He also made sure to complete his chores before running off to the library and always made sure to make it back in time to cook dinner.

To aid in his studying, Harry also practiced increasing his observational skills. It started small and simple, Harry watched where people placed things. Vernon usually left his car keys in the drawer of one of the kitchen cabinets. Dudley liked to sneak some snacks into his room and hide them behind his desk.

As the weeks progressed Harry also expanded his observations. Sometimes, when he knew Dudley and gang were too busy hanging out at one of their houses, Harry would sit on the swing in the playground and watch the kids and the parents, carefully noting their actions.

Harry watched the kids in the midst of their swing jumping contest. Harry watched as each kid swung as hard as they could before they jumped off. Harry was surprised that he hadn't heard any parent trying to stop the competition, as some of the kids were practically flying through the sky and landing on their hands knees. Most of the parents, as it turned out, were too busy chatting with each other to be carefully watching their children partake in dangerous competitions.

Harry caught snippets of their gossip, finding that it was a fantastic way of getting information, though not always useful information. The information today was a bit strange, they were talking about the strange visitor that Arabella Figg had. Harry perked up and listened more intently at the mention of his occasional babysitter. They reported that they saw a scrawny and poorly dressed man had showed up on the street and wandered up and down it a few times before Figg had come out and ushered him into the house. They said that he had quite a few scars on his face, ones that looked like a cat had attacked him.

Tuned out once the gossip started talking about more trivial things, Harry noticed that he was being observed by one of the fathers; the only parent present at the park not engaged in any of the idle gossip. Harry discretely observed him back, noting his physical features. He was clearly well built, he had dark brown hair, and was slightly taller than average; he was also constantly splitting his attention between Harry and a girl running around, with similarly dark brown hair and a similar facial structure – clearly his daughter. Harry thought he was familiar, perhaps he was there when Dudley chased him out of the playground last time?

Harry suddenly tensed when he noticed who was walking towards the playground again. Dudley. At least he was alone this time, Harry didn't really have to worry about outrunning the entire gang, Dudley: big and slow. Harry noticed out of the corner of his eye that the father had furrowed his brow and narrowed his eyes at Harry's reaction. He turned and saw Dudley approaching and snapped his head back to look at Harry.

Not looking forward to any confrontation, Harry slid out of the bench and started quickly walking towards the library. Hearing some raised voices behind him, he sneaked a glance behind him. He noticed the man had stood up in front of Dudley, blocking Dudley from heading towards Harry. Harry paused and watched the confrontation. He could make out Dudley making some hand gestures towards Harry, and trying to get around the man. The father stood his ground, his stance balanced and confident. He pulled something out of his back pocket, a glint of brass caught the sunlight – A police officer? Perhaps something else?

Dudley suddenly turned pale and quickly shook his head. He then turned around and hurried down the street. Harry didn't want to stick around either though. Dudley knew where he was, and he was sure that as soon as Harry let his guard down he would be onto him. Harry headed to the library started doing research on psychology, though he could barely focus on his reading. He wondered about the police officer – or was it a detective? A government official?

The officer gave him an idea. Harry decided to shelve his research on psychology for the day, and instead went through books on legal issues. He soon found an issue that could help him, _child abuse_. Maybe he could be taken away from Vernon and Petunia. Harry's excitement at getting rid of his Aunt and Uncle had the drawback of making him late to return home again.

-==SiM==-

"BOY! You missed dinner again!" Harry was greeted with Vernon's rage upon entering the house. "Skipping out on chores again are you? Well how about we lock you in your cupboard for a day?"

Harry shrunk away from Vernon, it would be a very unpleasant and boring if he was locked in the cupboard. Surprisingly, Aunt Petunia saved him from this fate. "We don't have to lock him in the cupboard all day."

"WHAT?" Vernon turned on Petunia instantly. Petunia flinched and shrunk away from Vernon.

"W-we co-could give him so-some more chores tomorrow?" Petunia stuttered out.

This seemed to quell some of Vernon's rage. His face slowly turning back to its normal color, the red fading out. "Very well. Boy, I expect the lawn to be perfect condition tomorrow. No weeds. Lawn mowed. Everything. Make sure the sitting room is clean too."

Harry just meekly nodded, not wanting to enrage Vernon again, and headed off to his cupboard. He thought about what Petunia had done. She had helped him. Harry started piecing together the bits of data. How Petunia was the one that usually handed him the bits of bread if he was locked in the cupboard or changing the punishment to something that he could stand. Harry always thought it was strange that Petunia would wear long sleeved shirts and dresses on some extremely hot days. Finally it came together, perhaps he wasn't the only one suffering in the house.

Harry went to sleep, slowly putting together a plan to get rid of Vernon. His thoughts swirled with what he read. Although he didn't quite understand most of the obscure legal terms yet, the book had made one thing very clear. This was clearly a crime, and Harry just needed to get evidence of it.

* * *

Authors Note:

So this begins the first multi-chapter story I'm posting here. This is also a response to Draynuy's Elementary my Dear Potter Challenge. So tell me what you like, what you hate, what you think I could do better with and the generally constructive things like that.

Also the title _A Study in Magic_ is a direct reference to the first Sherlock Holmes book title, _A Study in Scarlet_. I should probably read that book at some point, but I'll start this now, since it is a Harry Potter story more so than a Sherlock Holmes story.

I'll be doing my best to update this weekly and the chapters will probably be slightly longer than this (depending on the time I have).


	2. The First Case

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, nor do I make money off of this in any way.

* * *

 **A Study in Magic**

* * *

Chapter 2: _The First Case_

Towards the middle of July, Harry found himself without any new evidence against Uncle Vernon, though he was almost certain that Petunia was helping him out where she could. He began to plan a way to enlist her aid directly. It would be difficult though, she would turn a little pale whenever Vernon entered the room, and she frequently flinched whenever Vernon made and large hand gestures. She was clearly afraid of him, and Harry had to find a way around that fear.

Harry was looking for a way to actually gather evidence on Vernon. He got his chance the day after his aunt and uncle took Dudley to get his uniform for Smeltings. Harry woke to an unusually acrid smell that originated from the kitchen. Harry briefly wondered if he had cooked so often that no one else remembered how to cook anymore and if someone burnt something. He came to the kitchen to find the sink filled with a giant metal bucket and dirty rags drifting in slate gray water.

"What's this?"

Aunt Petunia stiffened slightly, "Its your uniform for school. I'm just dyeing it for you so it will look like everyone's uniform."

Harry couldn't suppress his frown.

Uncle Vernon and Dudley came into the room and ordered Harry to get the mail. Harry, not wanting to draw the ire of Dudley and his Smelting Stick that he carried everywhere, headed off and grabbed the mail.

Sitting underneath the mail slot was just three letters: a postcard from Marge, a nondescript white envelope that probably contained a bill and – a letter for Harry?

Harry's heart pounded, there wasn't anyone who would write to him. Especially not with the way that the letter was addressed:

 _Mr. H. Potter_

 _The Cupboard under the Stairs_

 _4 Privet Drive_

 _Little Whinging_

 _Surrey_

Harry wracked his brain for any hints, any at all. He had no friends, they were all chased away by Dudley and gang, he had no other relatives, and he certainly no one knew of him living under the stairs.

Harry turned the letter over, spying a giant wax seal bearing a lion, a snake, an eagle, and a badger surrounding a letter H. He couldn't remember seeing another letter with a wax seal on it either. _Wasn't that an archaic practice?_ Some of the stories he read didn't even have that despite being in a time period that did.

Gently Harry broke the seal, feeling a small tingle in the finger tips as he did so. He slid the flap back and slowly, almost reverently pulled out the letter.

"Boy! What's taking so long? You checking the letter for bombs or something?" He chuckled slightly.

Harry turned and tossed the postcard and the bill at Vernon before sitting down to read his letter. Harry briefly wondered why the paper felt different than usual. It was certainly thicker and had a strange yellowish hue to it. Harry put it out of his mind, too excited to have actually received a letter from someone. He just started to unfold it when Dudley knocked his stick at the table and pointed it at Harry. "Look Dad, Harry's got something!"

Harry had just began to read, ignoring the shock of Dudley yelling and the stick waving wildly near his face.

 _Hogw-_

Suddenly Harry found himself staring at his fingers, the letter pulled from his grasp. "HEY, THAT'S MINE!" Harry reached out to snatch it back just to be held by by Vernon's pudgy hand. Vernon shook the letter open, and almost let another page slip out. Harry didn't realize that the letter had multiple pages.

Vernon's rage instantly vanished and he turned a pale white, as if he had seen a ghost or perhaps he had suddenly became an opaque ghost.

"P-P-Petunia!" He called over, and she hurried to his side. He handed the letter to her and Harry thought Petunia might faint. She had instantly gone the same deathly white that Vernon had.

They stared at each other for a bit, seemingly forgetting that the Dudley and Harry were in the room.

"I want to read the letter," announced Dudley, giving his dad a poke on the shoulder with his Smelting Stick.

"It's not your letter. I _need_ to read it," retorted Harry.

"Get out, both of you!" Vernon turned back to the table, spotting the slightly yellow parchment the envelope was made out of and shoved the letter back in. Harry would have been impressed that Vernon's giant hands and brutal force hadn't ripped the envelope apart.

"Go, get out!" He shoved shoved Harry out towards his cupboard. Harry stumbled along, but stood outside for a moment. He could hear Vernon and Dudley arguing about the letter. Harry turned around, to march back in there to snatch his letter back, but he spotted something curious outside. He noticed a regal reddish brown owl stared at him. Harry just stared back, almost hypnotized by the great amber eyes. His gaze was broken when Dudley stomped past Harry, clearly angry, and banging his Smelting Stick against the wall. Harry was just glad that Dudley hadn't turned the stick on him in rage. Harry turned back to the owl. The owl titled it's head for a moment before ruffling its feathers and taking off. Harry continued to stare at the spot of the owl.

"Boy, what are you looking at, get into your room!"

"I want to read my letter."

"What letter. There was no letter. It was a mistake." Harry wanted to point out Vernon's contradiction there.

"Where is my letter?" Harry demanded.

"I burned it."

"WHAT?"

"Get. To. Your. Room."

"Room, don't you mean _cupboard_?"

"No, about that, your are getting Dudley's extra room. Grab your stuff and go up there now."

Figures, the letter knew he was living in the cupboard so now they were going to move him to an actual room. Harry begrudgingly grabbed his scant belongings, barely a handful of small objects, and made the trip up to Dudley's toy room.

Had it been any other time, Harry would have been ecstatic to have this room, but now he just wanted to read that letter. Hogw-? Who or what was that?

Harry set his stuff down on the three legged desk before he sat down on the bed – then he suddenly leapt back up. A broken spring had stuck out and he had sat down on it. Harry carefully moved away from the spring sticking out of the mattress and gingerly sat down in a different spot, rubbing the scratch now present on his bum.

Harry glanced around the room. It was Dudley's second room. His toy room, rather more accurately described as his _broken_ toy room. Sitting on the self was his broken airplane, crashed earlier this summer – while Harry was in solitary confinement due to the strange boa constrictor incident. Sitting next to that was the broken remote control car that practically got eaten by a neighbor's dog, the video camera from last year that Dudley had accidentally sat upon. Harry briefly wondered what happened to the new video camera Dudley got for his birthday this year.

Harry suddenly had an idea. Dudley wouldn't use anything that was _broken_ , even if it was still functional. Harry got up and pulled the broken camera down from the shelf. He looked at it, the small screen was broken, clearly not designed to support anywhere near Dudley's weight, but the rest of it seemed fairly functional.

Harry clicked the thing on and then hit the record button. He heard the cassette inside the video camera start moving. Harry silently cheered. He might not be able to see what the thing was recording, but at the very least he should be able to get sound. Maybe video if he was lucky and Dudley hadn't sat on any other important parts.

Now that he had a method of recording evidence, he just needed to catch Vernon in the act. Preferably both him abusing Harry, and if Harry was lucky, perhaps he could also catch Vernon abusing Aunt Petunia.

Harry thought about what he could do, Harry certainly knew methods of enraging Vernon, that was easy. He wondered how he could protect Aunt Petunia too. With that Harry started preparing everything. He made sure that the video camera had fresh batteries, which wasn't too hard considering some of the toys here Dudley had crashed during his first time using them. Harry still wondered about the letter. He hoped that whoever sent the letter would send another one. He decided that he would head to the library sometime in the next week to check for anything of significance that started with H-o-g-w; an odd combination of letters to be in a word.

Harry headed off to bed early that night, hoping to get up early to snatch the mail if he had the chance. Harry dreamed of having an actual family, being fussed over like the parents at the playground, fussing over the smallest things.

Maybe he didn't want that, but at least he wished to experience it.

Harry snapped awake. The sound of echoing laughter and riding a broom still echoing in his head. Riding a what? The dream dissipated in his mind. He just remembered the feeling of elation and wild freedom.

Harry was brought out of his feelings of wild elation when he remembered where he was. On top of the fact that his bed was extremely lumpy and comfortable. He could distinctly feel the cold metal of a spring resting against his back. He reached over and grabbed his glasses to get ready for the day.

He thought about it for a moment and decided that he would set up the camera. If Vernon decided to act out today, he would be able to record Vernon abusing him. He got up, slightly earlier than usual. He was grateful that this door didn't have a lock on it – yet. He quiet walked down the stairs, making sure to avoid the third stair so it would squeak.

Harry came down and came to the mantle place by the sitting room. It was right in between the kitchen and the front door, and would hopefully catch any conversation in either place. Not that Harry had any doubt, once Vernon started yelling, the whole house could hear it easily.

Harry shifted some of the pictures on the mantle place. He noted that all of them were of the Dursley's. None of them had him in it, and there were no pictures of his parents. His parents couldn't always have been a drunk right? Harry placed the camera behind the pictures and arranged them so that the camera was mostly hidden. No one would look for it.

Harry then started actually looking at the pictures. The picture of just Vernon and Aunt Petunia, they looked like a normal happy couple. Harry was shocked that Aunt Petunia had smiled so brightly before. He had never seen her smile like that, her smiles never reached her eyes, or had the bright properties they had in this picture. The pictures after that showed Aunt Petunia slowly fading it seemed. Each picture the smile seemed a bit more strained, and bit more forced. They never reached her eyes. Vernon seemed oblivious to all that. Though his smiles after that first picture definitely also lost a quality of… niceness to them. They were also forced, though not as forced as Petunia's.

Harry heard something shift upstairs, he quickly put the picture he was looking at back on the mantle place and ignored the pang of hurt that he wasn't in any of them. He quickly poked the record button on the camera and moved away from the mantle towards the kitchen.

Harry quickly started cooking a meal for the Dursleys, eggs and bacon and everything he would only get scraps of. Harry had long since learned not to try to sneak any food if there was even a remote chance of Vernon or Dudley catching him.

Vernon came trudging down and sat down at the table. He snapped opened the newspaper like he did every morning. Dudley stomped down the stairs. Perhaps Dudley had forgotten that Harry now moved to the smallest bedroom. Dudley paraded into the room, he still carried his gnarled Smelting Stick. Harry gave them their breakfast and headed out into the hall, mumbling something about forgetting something in his room, just in case the breakfast wasn't distracting enough.

Harry walked by the front door just as the mail slot clicked open. Harry silently thanked consistent mailmen. Harry quickly sifted through the letters. Something about Smeltings Academy for Dudley, something that was probably another bill, and – Yes! Another letter for Harry. This time it was addressed to the "Smallest Bedroom". Somehow whoever addressed this must be watching him closely. Harry quickly opened the letter and pulled out the contents of the letter and put it into his sock. He would read it later when he had time away from Vernon.

Harry came back into the kitchen, once again tossing the other two letters at Vernon. Vernon looked up and immediately snatched up the letter. He took one look at the letter and turned red. "Hey give that back!" Harry protested.

"Boy, we won't have you working with those worthless freaks."

This was not the first time that 'those worthless freaks' was mentioned, though Harry still had no idea what it was about. Someone he was related to?

"But its _my letter_. I want to read what it says!" Harry responded furiously.

"We'll tolerate none of your freakishness in this house!" Vernon stomped over to the sitting room and tossed the letter into the fire. Harry made a halfhearted attempt at clawing at Vernon to try to get the letter, but he knew the contents were safe with him anyways.

Harry observed that Vernon was in a prime location. Time to pull the trigger. "But _imagine_ what that letter could be." Vernon turned red at this, Harry wasn't sure why he was so averse to imagination, but it was one of his triggers. Harry braced for impact. "Maybe I don't have to go to Stonewall High."

At this Vernon – and Petunia, though Harry couldn't see her – turned pale. Harry realized immediately. He must have guessed accurately, another school had accepted him. That was why Vernon and Petunia were talking about ignoring the letter. _If they don't get a response, they'll stop_ was Vernon's though process yesterday.

"No, you won't mingle with those freaks. You won't be getting close to anyone with that freakishness. Go back to your room."

Vernon shoved Harry roughly towards the stairs, before muttering about getting a lock for the door. He pulled Dudley with him and they left the home. Harry just walked up the stairs, he had the perfect time to see what the letter said with Vernon and Dudley out of the house. Before he went up to his room, he went over to the camera and poked the record button again. Carefully, he pulled out the tape and went to his room and hid it.

He carefully pulled the pieces of parchment out from his sock, and slowly, respectfully unfolded the letter.

 _Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry_

Harry's eyes widened as he read down the page: The headmaster was a guy called Albus Dumbledore, who had quite a few titles to his name, Harry made a note to look them up, though he couldn't recall any of titles in the books that he had read. Chief Warlock? Supreme Mugwump? Order of Merlin?

Harry couldn't decide if this was some elaborate joke, or if this was something serious. He read down. He was accepted to this school, a school he had never heard of, and it seemed to be a school for _witchcraft?_

 _We await your owl no later than July 31._

The first thought that registered in Harry's mind was that it was his birthday, just a week from today. The next thought was _Owl?_ _They awaited his Owl?_

Harry thought for a moment before snapping his head up to look out the window. Sure enough there was the same Great Horned Owl as yesterday staring at him. Is that _my_ owl? Harry wondered. Harry looked down. He guessed that he would have to write a response to it. Though he wasn't sure how to send it. Unless. The owl? Harry wondered if the owl would know where to send it. He shrugged as he sat down.

 _Dear Deputy Headmistress Minerva McGonagall,_

 _I am pleased at my acceptance, but as I have no knowledge of this school or what Witchcraft and Wizardry are, I would appreciate it if you could send someone to help me out. I am unsure where to find any of these books, as I have been to libraries and not seen any of these titles. I require some assistance._

 _Sincerely,_

 _Harry Potter_

Harry didn't mention the confusion at quills and cauldrons and wands, but he felt that he didn't want to come off as too ignorant. The rest of that could be figured out later. Harry looked over the letter one last time, cringing slightly at his formal language, but he felt that at least it might leave a good impression. He noticed that the owl hopped off it's perch on the tree and flew over to the window sill. It tapped a few times and sent a sharp glare at Harry. Harry quickly got the message and opened the window. The owl fluttered in and landed on the desk. Harry, not sure what to do rolled up the paper and held it up to the owl. The owl's leg flashed out and snatched the paper out of his hand and then hopped over and nipped Harry on the finger before taking off back out the window.

"So you will be heading off to their world too?"

Harry jumped and spun around, surprised at the voice behind him. Aunt Petunia was leaning up against doorway. "How long have you been standing there?"

"Long enough to watch you read your letter and send it off." Aunt Petunia crossed the room and sat down upon the bed. The bed lightly protested the weight. Harry got over and sat down next to his Aunt, keeping a respectable amount of space between then—avoiding the spring to stuck out of the bed.

Harry decided to speak first. He pondered which thing to ask about first. 'Their world' or Vernon. Harry decided with the latter, he was sure to get some information on the former sooner or later anyways. "Vernon's abusing you." Harry didn't ask it as question, he stated it.

Petunia averted her eyes, looking anywhere but at him. She studied the bed, poking the bed spring that poked through the mattress, then studied the ground. "Vernon… he wasn't always so bad."

"The years before Dudley?" Harry remembered the looks from the picture.

Petunia nodded. "He… He was nice then. He still had some violent tendencies, and definitely had a short temper, but he was also extremely supportive. He would stand up to those who tried to bully him. He was determined, determined to be the best at whatever he did."

"What happened?" That didn't sound like the Vernon he knew at all, except for the violent tendencies and short temper.

"During the year we had Dudley, the same year James and Lily had you, they came to visit. James seemed reluctant to do so, but Lily insisted. She... just wanted to be my sister again." Petunia paused for a moment, trying to gather her thoughts. "She was magical, just like you. Those strange things that happen around you? That is because you are magical."

Harry just gave a quizzical look at that. Magical? That explains the _witchcraft_ and _wizardry_ as well as the various items, wands, cauldrons and such.

"I was extremely jealous of Lily and her... _ability_. I pushed her away when she started learning how to use it. I... called her a freak.

"I think I hurt her very badly then, by pushing her away. She just wanted to be a sister to me, and I turned her away." Tears started leaking from her eyes. "Lily tried to make up with me, and during that year she had come to visit, sometimes with James and yourself. We started getting along again, but then something set off Vernon. It was their last visit b—before..." Petunia's tears started flowing faster at that.

"I—I think Vernon saw James's wand and figured out that he was magical or something. I don't know why but Vernon started getting really angry. Lily and James made sure they never had showed their magic around me. I don't even know how, but Vernon just started yelling about freaks."

"He chased James and Lily out of house. That was the last time I saw Lily."

Harry just sat there and took it all in. Magical people, Vernon suddenly getting set off about freaks. Harry wondered if that was why Vernon mistreated him so much. Because Vernon knew that Harry was a magical child?

"Can you tell me about the magical world?" Harry asked, changing the subject away from Lily. Petunia was still crying softly.

"There... isn't much I can tell you. I stopped talking to Li—Lily's teachers had come in to talk to her about their world. I didn't listen to it too much." Harry realized that there wasn't much else he could talk about. He just sat there silently and then scooted over to try to comfort his aunt.

Harry was unsure of what to do, so he just settled on patting Petunia's back gently. He felt really awkward doing so. After a while Petunia calmed down enough. Harry just scooted back away from her.

Petunia turned to Harry. "I really should have been there for you. More. There was only so much I could do to stop Vernon from tossing you out completely."

"Its alright." Harry wasn't sure what else he could say. He did harbor some resentment for the chores he had to do, for being effectively treated like a slave for most of his life. He held more resentment for Dudley, but mostly because Dudley—Probably at the orders of Vernon—had bullied any prospective friends away. Dudley also never did any chore. Harry wasn't sure if Dudley could do any household chore, be it cooking, cleaning, or any yard work.

"No, it really isn't alright." Petunia held out her arms. It took Harry a few moments to realize that she was offering him a hug. His _first_ hug. Harry awkwardly tried to figure out what to do, and embraced Petunia. Harry thought that it would feel warm, or tender or _something_ , but to him it just felt a little awkward. Harry could only really think of how uncomfortable his aunt's bony shoulder was.

They separated after a moment. Harry thought about something before sitting down and pulling out the tape he recorded earlier from his pocket. "I'm... gathering some things on Vernon, hopefully to get rid of him. If you want to help, that would make things simpler."

Petunia just nodded at that. They both heard the car pull up to the driveway, and Petunia got off the bed. As she headed out the door, she turned for a moment and gave Harry a small smile.

Vernon came into the house shortly afterward, still yelling about something. He immediately came to Harry's door and upon checking that Harry was still inside, he started banging away on the door with a hammer.

Harry just sat and thought about what Aunt Petunia had told him. He imagined what the magical world was like. Maybe he could learn something cast a spell to protect him from Vernon. He thought about his parents. Well, what little he now knew about them. They weren't drunks, and their deaths certainly didn't seem like an accident.

Harry noted to ask whatever professor came to tell him about the magical world about his past. Maybe they would know something, or they would know his parents.

Harry heard some fluttering outside, and looked up to the desk. He noticed that he never closed the window from earlier, when he had sent his acceptance letter. An owl just swooped in and landed on the desk. It dropped the letter it clutched in its claws and took off, not even taking note of Harry.

Harry rushed over to the letter, grateful for once that Vernon had already locked the door. He opened the letter.

 _Dear Mr Potter,_

 _I'm pleased to have received your acceptance to our school. While it is most unusual for a half-blood such as yourself to not have knowledge of our school or of anything in the magical world, I understand that you are under some unique circumstances._

 _I will have either myself, or another trusted professor to stop by your house and fill you in, as well as aid you in your school shopping should you need it sometime within the next week. We are busy introducing some of the other muggleborns to our world too, so I apologize in advance if I myself cannot make it to your appointment. I look forward to seeing you at Hogwarts._

 _Sincerely,_

 _Professor McGonagall._

Harry looked over the letter, and read it several times. He finally had something to look forward to.


	3. The Magical World

_Disclaimer:_ I don't own Harry Potter, I just write within the world that J.K. Rowling has created for my own amusement.

Edit: 7/13/15

A/N: This chapter has seen some updates and re-written parts and an added scene (how could I forget you, Hedwig?). Really aside from the included scene, the chapter hasn't changed too much. So if you read the chapter in the last week, feel free to read this chapter again! Or don't, mostly I just added Hedwig.

 **A Study in Magic**

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Chapter 3: _The Magical World_

Harry had spent majority of the week looking forward to meeting one of his teachers. He was about to receive an introduction to the wizarding world. Unfortunately, this meant Harry was a tiny bit more distracted than usual, any time someone knocked on the door—an admittedly rare occurrence—Harry would immediately spring up and hope that that was for him.

The first time that week someone knocked on the door, Harry dropped the plate he was holding. Vernon howled at Harry and forced him to clean up the mess, before opening the door to reveal—to Harry's great disappointment—Marge. A similar incident happened the next day, when the mailman knocked on the door to deliver a package. This time Harry burnt the meal he was cooking when he left the meal unattended to see who was at the door, much to the chagrin of Vernon. Harry was sent to his room without a meal.

Harry went to sleep that night dreaming of the possibilities of magic—casting spells, riding broomsticks, looking silly in pointed hats and robes covered in stars. He also dreamed of strangely dressed people. Harry recognized some of them as people he has seen in some stores. Especially those who have greeted him or shook his hand.

The next few days crawled by in an uneventful haze for Harry. He began wondering if the professor would show up at all. Maybe it was all an elaborate prank, and his Aunt Petunia was in on it. He really didn't think so though, not with how his aunt acted when she was telling him about his mum and dad.

Exactly a week before his birthday, Harry was coming down the stairs and preparing to cook lunch. Just as he passed the door he heard a knocking. Harry excitedly opened the door, and looked out, and blinked, confused for a moment. He was staring at the top of a head. Harry looked down from the clean cut brown hair. He then noticed the neat suit suit that the man was wearing, underneath his black robes.

The first thought that actually registered in Harry's mind was that this man was _really_ short. Like slightly shorter than Harry. Harry realized that this was probably his professor coming to introduce him to the wizarding world. He took a closer look at the professor, noticing that his face and ears carried some sharp features. His ears seemed especially strangely angular.

"Ah! Harry Potter?" Harry was surprised at the higher pitched squeaky cheerful voice that came out. The little man gave a small excited jump, before settling down.

"Err... Yes, I'm Harry Potter." Harry wasn't sure what else to say.

"Ah, of course, I'm Professor Flitwick, Head of Ravenclaw House, and teacher of Charms." the diminutive professor introduced himself. "Your mother was quite the prodigy at charms!"

Harry smiled at the cheerful demeanor of Flitwick. "BOY! Who is that?" Harry's smile disappeared immediately, replaced by a deep frown. The giant form of Uncle Vernon appeared behind Harry.

"We aren't interested in anything you are selling!" Vernon turned to Harry, "Go back to your room boy!"

Harry protested, "But–"

"Not buts! Go, we aren't interested in what you're selling." Vernon went to close the door. Flitwick just held out his hand to stop the door from being closed. He surprised Harry with his strength for stopping Vernon from closing the door, considering his height. Harry felt like the air was to crackling with some energy. Perhaps it was just the tension between the two.

"I am soon to be one of Harry's professors, and I am here to tell him about his school and his world." Flitwick responded formally.

Vernon paled as he looked at Flitwick, then he flushed with anger turning on Harry. "YOU FREAK, YOU RESPONDED TO THE LETTER!" Vernon didn't even wonder how Harry got a hold of the letter, after he had burned the previous two. "We won't have any your freakishness here." Vernon grabbed hold of Harry and lifted him into the air.

Suddenly Vernon's hands and arms snapped to his side and his feet snapped together. Vernon dropped Harry back on his feet and Harry scrambled back away from Vernon. Harry watched in amazement as Vernon slowly fell back. It was like watching a slow motion movie. Vernon's eyes looked wild, his glance bounced around everywhere as he couldn't move his head. Vernon landed on the floor with a thud.

Harry then noticed that Flitwick had out a small stick—a wand, Harry guessed. Harry looked in wonder at the result. Vernon was on the ground, unable to actually do anything. Flitwick looked a little angry at Vernon, before shifting to a slightly more cheerful attitude, giving Harry a small smile.

"Defensive magic is not something that I usually prefer as an introduction to magic, but it will have to do for now." Flitwick gave, his voice, while still high pitched and squeaky, definitely lost some of its cheeriness. "Shall we continue this in living room?"

Harry looked at Vernon, bound on the floor, and then gave a quick glance behind his back. "I think it would be better to take this somewhere else."

Professor Flitwick nodded in understanding, before gesturing his hand out for Harry to lead on. Harry decided that the library would be a nice quiet place for them to continue talking, especially with the study rooms. Harry took the lead and headed down the street. He paused when he noticed that the tiny professor hadn't followed him immediately, he glanced back to see Flitwick waving his wand towards his fallen uncle, before stowing his wand away and walking quickly to join up with Harry.

When they arrived at the library, Harry took them to a quiet study room. There Flitwick pulled out his wand again and waved a few times. Harry spotted a small blur in the air that vanished quickly. Flitwick spotted his inquisitive look. "Its a charm to ward against muggles. They won't notice anything and we can talk as loud as we want. No one else will hear it."

Harry nodded, before asking the first question on his mind. "What is a muggle?"

"Ah, you have no knowledge at all right?" Harry nodded at that. "Very well, I have just the book for you." Flitwick reached into his robe and pulled a book out from one of the inside pockets. Harry was amazed that the book hadn't even caused a bulge in the jacket, despite being its moderate size. _Welcome to the Wizarding World:_ _The Magical Manifest for Muggleborns._

Treating the book with the respect that he would have treated anything that belonged to his parents, Harry carefully took the book from Flitwick's hands. Flitwick noted the look of awe in Harry's eyes, a look that he had seen in quite a few members of his house when he had gifted them precious books too.

"Muggles are people without the ability to do magic." Flitwick answered. He offered explanation of the Statue of Secrecy when Harry asked about how muggles didn't know anything about their existence.

Harry then asked about how the people seemed to know him. Flitwick talked about Voldemort—or You-know-who, or some other hyphenated name—and how he was the greatest Dark Lord in recent history. "You managed to defeat him as a baby. He tried to kill you the night he killed your parents, his Killing Curse rebounded off you and killed him." Flitwick told him that was how he got his scar. Harry just numbly nodded. His parents were murdered, and he somehow survived and no one was sure how it happened. He was the only known survivor of a the Killing Curse.

Noticing the Time, Flitwick decided to wrap things up. "Read up the book before next week." Flitwick decided that he would help Harry out with his school shopping since Vernon clearly wasn't going to aid Harry. Flitwick told Harry that he would see him in a week.

Together they left the library, Flitwick taking down the wards and spells that he had set up earlier. As they got to the door, Flitwick mentioned to Harry that he wanted a word with his relatives. Harry nodded and then went off to his room to read the book he had received.

The next week was a complete blur for Harry. He spent most of his time reading the book that he had received from the Professor and he was very grateful for whatever Flitwick had done to his uncle. Vernon tended to ignore him now, but he was more easily enraged. Harry had actually received a few beatings after Flitwick left because Harry didn't do a chore here or there. Harry started putting the plans to get rid of Vernon in place.

When Harry wasn't plotting Vernon's demise, he poured over the book, learning as much as he could about the magical world. He thought that some of the traditions were rather backwards and seemed extremely dated, but it seemed to work for them more or less. Harry learned about the Ministry of Magic—government of Magical Britain—and its parliament styled governing body, the Wizengamot. Harry learned that there were classifications for blood in the wizarding world: the purebloods, half-bloods, and muggleborns. Harry was a half-blood, despite both his parents being magical—some rule of purebloods requiring 7 generations of magical lineage to qualify.

Before he knew it, the week had gone by, and Harry was excited for his birthday for once. Professor Flitwick was going to come around and help him gather his school supplies. Harry excitedly waited by the door, eager to see more of the world—considering that his relatives never took him anywhere.

Harry greeted Flitwick almost the moment he heard a knock on the door. It then occurred to Harry that Vernon wasn't likely going to let them borrow the car, so he asked Flitwick how they were going to travel to wherever they were going.

"Not to worry Mr. Potter, it seems that we have a Floo network connection in this very neighborhood." _Floo network?_ Harry tried to remember what that was. The book didn't really have specifics on any particular magic, just the general information on the magical world. "You'll see shortly." Flitwick responded to Harry's curious look.

They headed down the street and Harry was surprised when they stopped in front of Figg's house. "Arabella here is a squib," that was a term Harry remembered from the book, though it's appearance was barely more than a footnote, a non-magical person born to a magical family, opposite of a muggleborn.

That surprised Harry slightly, but then thinking back he realized that it should have made a bit of sense. Most of the wizards or witches that Harry had met in stores—before getting wisked away by Vernon—were strangely dressed people. A few weeks ago Harry had heard of Mrs. Figg calling a poorly dressed fellow into her home. Now Harry wondered why Mrs. Figg never told him about the magical world, he reminded himself to ask her about it when he got back.

Mrs. Figg answered the door when they knocked and allowed them in, directing them towards the fireplace in the sitting room. "This is the Floo network, Mr. Potter." The professor pointed towards the fireplace. Harry was slightly confused how that worked. "Now listen carefully, this will be your first magical lesson!" Flitwick announced cheerfully, then as looked over to Mrs. Figg standing beside him. "This is quite exciting, giving Mr. Potter his first lesson in magic!" Both Harry and Mrs. Figg smiled at that. Harry was coming to enjoy the cheerful demeanor of the charms professor.

"Now, enunciation is important, both for charms work, and for the Floo network." Flitwick stated in a slightly more formal tone. "Now the Floo network is a method of wizard transportation, you toss in some Floo powder," Flitwick pointed to the jar on the mantlepiece, Harry looked at the bright green powder that filled the jar. "and you announce your destination.

"Now, as a mispronunciation will cause you to go to somewhere you may not want to be, we'll practice. So, repeat after me. Diagon Alley."

Harry nodded listening carefully to what Flitwick said. He had never heard of a Diagon Alley before. "Diagonally," said Harry, slightly too fast and nervously. He briefly wondered what happened to spells that were mispronounced.

Flitwick chuckled slightly at the Harry's nervousness. "Separate out the words Harry. Otherwise we won't know where you end up. The Floo network is a little finicky sometimes. Diagon-" Flitwick paused to emphasize the break in between the two words. "-Alley."

"Diagon. Alley." Harry repeated after the professor.

"Very well. Now again," Flitwick ordered. "With more confidence this time."

"Diagon Alley." Harry said, in a clearer voice.

"Well done Harry! Now just toss the powder into the fire and state your destination like we just did. Then step into the fire. It won't burn you. Make sure to keep your elbows close to your body, we don't want any accidents!"

Harry nodded and followed the instructions. He tossed a handful of green powder into the flames. Harry took a step back as the fire flared out but didn't feel any heat. He gave a quick glance at Flitwick who just gestured his arm towards the flame.

"Diagon Alley," announced Harry, before taking a deep and stepping into the flame. Harry braced for the burn of the fire on his legs, but instead he felt a slight tug. He looked forward and noticed glimpses of other fireplaces and hearths whisking by. Harry couldn't see any distinguishing features, just the glimpse of color, some houses prominently features warm yellows and reds, while others featured cooler greens and blues.

Suddenly Harry stumbled out of the fireplace, almost landing on his face. He caught his balance at the last second. He looked around and noticed that he was in an inviting little area. It featured a spacious dinning area as well as a bar. Stairs led upstairs to what Harry presumed to be rooms, based what the signs said.

Harry looked around, seeing a few people in the odd dresses that wizards and witches seemed to favor, the strangely colored robes and the pointed hats. Harry noticed that today seemed fairly slow, most of the room was empty.

A bald man noticed the flash of green from the Floo travel and looked up. "Good lord, could it be?" The man looked at Harry's forehead, towards his scar. While it was mostly obscured by his hair, it was still visible to those who looked for it. "It is! Harry Potter! Welcome back Mr. Potter. What an honour to meet you." The man walked up to Harry, and shook his hand quite vigorously.

A flash of green flared up behind Harry and Flitwick joined Harry. "Ah Filius! Are escorting Mr. Potter here?"

"That's correct Tom, sorry I don't have time to hang around for a drink. Perhaps later."

Tom nodded at that before looking at Harry again. "Please, stop by anytime you want. We are always open if you need a room or anything, Mr. Potter." Tom shook Harry's hand one more time before going off to service another wizard that had walked in through the door.

Flitwick got Harry's attention and led Harry out the backdoor to a windy courtyard. Harry looked around, expecting it to be the Alley, all he saw was a giant brick wall. Flitwick walked up to wall and conjured a small step ladder. He climbed up the ladder and tapped his wand on the wall, hitting a series of bricks in an anti-clockwise motion.

Harry watched in awe as the bricks slid apart and formed an archway. The wall revealed a bustling Alley behind it. Children and parents walked to a fro from shop to shop. Some were carrying cauldrons full of books, others lugged shiny new trunks or carried broomsticks on their shoulders. Parents raced to keep up with children who pressed their faces to the windows, staring at the newest releases of books and broomsticks, prank items and clothing.

It occurred to Harry that he had no money and no way of purchasing these things. "Uh.. Professor, I haven't got any money to buy anything."

"Not to worry Mr. Potter, I procured your vault key from Professor Dumbledore. Your parents set up a trust vault for you. It is also how you are paying for the schooling." Flitwick led Harry down the Alley towards a large marble structure in the back, Gringotts bank. Together they climbed the stairs and entered the large ornate building.

As soon as they walked in Harry noticed the strange short beings walking around. They had sharp, angular features. Some of their faces seemed to be in a perpetual scowl. They had sharp pointed ears, and from what Harry could see, they had sharp pointed teeth too.

"They're goblins Mr. Potter, and unless you try to damage their bank or openly attack you, you have nothing to fear from them." Flitwick told Harry.

It occurred to Harry that he had seen these similar features on someone before, although smoother and less angular; Harry turned to Flitwick, "You're half goblin aren't you?"

Flitwick looked rather impressed. "Very astute observation Mr. Potter, I am indeed half-goblin. Just treat these goblins with respect and they will respect you too."

They waited in line for a short while until a teller became available. Harry and Flitwick walked up to the desk, and neither of them came over the desk. A goblin leaned over desk as they approached. "Ah Filius, here on business or for yourself?" came the rough voice of the goblin. Harry decided that he much preferred the light hearted squeakiness of Flitwick's voice to this goblin.

"Neither, I'm am simply escorting Mr. Potter here to his vault."

The goblin peered over his glasses and stared down at Harry. "Does young Mr. Potter here have his vault key?"

"Uhm..." Thankfully Flitwick saved him.

"I have it right here." Flitwick pulled the key out of his robe and handed it over to the goblin. The goblin inspected it before shouting something at another goblin. The noises that the goblin made were extremely guttural and rough. "Griphook here will show you to your vault." The goblin handed the key back to Harry.

Harry and Flitwick followed the other goblin to a set of tracks. They clambered on to the cart. After a wicked rollercoaster ride, Harry stumbled out of the cart and walked onto the platform with unsteady legs. Griphook and Flitwick both jumped out and followed Harry. Taking in the surroundings of the area, Harry noticed that some of the doors were hard to pick out from the surrounding rocks, while others stood out proudly.

"Your key, Mr. Potter."

Harry handed over the key and Griphook slid open a small cover before inserting the key and unlocking the vault. When the door opened, Harry stood shocked at the amount that sat inside the vault. Mounds of golden galleons, columns of silver sickles, and piles of bronze knuts sat within the vault—the wizarding currency that Harry had read about.

"I'm not privy to the full details of your parents finances, Mr. Potter, but they were fairly well off." Griphook told Harry, snapping him out of his daze. Harry just nodded and took a small pouch that sat in the vault and filled it with the some of the money found in his vault.

"Keep a close eye on your key Mr. Potter, I wouldn't hand it to anyone else." Griphook handed the key back to Harry once they left the vault and closed the door behind them.

Harry took his key from Griphook, "What happens if I give it to someone else?" Harry asked, curious.

"They may be able to access your vault." Griphook stated. "As this is just your trust vault, anyone with the key to it and who knows the vault number will be able to access it."

They took the cart back up to the surface, at a speed that Harry was sure was faster than their descent. They got off the cart and Harry noticed a giant man lumber towards the carts. Harry gave a quick glance back and wondered how well those carts would fit the man.

"Hagrid! What are you doing here?" Flitwick exclaimed from Harry's side.

Hagrid walked over to the pair. "Oh 'ello there Filius. I'm on official Hogwarts business." the giant stated proudly. He then spotted Harry and seemed to be shocked. "Harry Potter?!" This drew the attention of many of the patrons in the bank, and the attention of some of the goblins. "I haven't see you since you were a little baby!" Harry flushed a little at that. He looked down at his shoes, embarrassed.

"Well, if you are here on official Hogwarts business then we shouldn't keep you." Flitwick rescured Harry from farther embarassment. Harry was pleasantly surprised at the gentleness of Hagrid though, for someone who looked like they could easily snap people in half, Hagrid seemed quite friendly.

"Right, I best be on my way. I s'pose I'll see you at Hogwarts, Harry." Hagrid walked towards the platform of the cart and crammed himself into one of the carts. "To vault 713," he told the goblin attending the cart. With the push of level, Harry watched Hagrid disappear down tracks.

Together, Harry and the professor headed out of the bank with money in hand. As they came out of the bank, Harry noticed a shop to the side had seemed to have a blast in the front. A small crowd had gathered by the storefront, vying to get a glimpse at what happened.

"What's going on there?"

Flitwick glanced up at the small crowd, spotting the damaged storefront. "Doesn't look like anything too serious, perhaps just a spell mishap or some vandalism?" offered Flitwick.

"Who are those people, professor?" Harry pointed at the groups of people there. One set wore a simple brown light robbed uniform. They had badges stitched upon their robes. Also present were two people, who wore heavy brown trench coats talking to what looked like a disgruntled shop owner.

"Those, with the uniforms and badges are the magical police. They mostly handle the small crimes and vandalism that happens. They keep order when they need to, though they aren't very well trained to handle larger situations. The ones in the coats questioning the store owner, those are Aurors, they are better trained and they hunt down criminals and dark wizards." Flitwick lectured, happy to satisfy someone else's curiosity. "There are also Hit-wizards, they are more specially trained. They usually handle especially dangerous criminals and deal with larger groups of wizards or situations that require more power."

"Like the muggle S.W.A.T. teams." Harry muttered under his breath, seeing the connection.

"The last time they were called in I believe was for Sirius Black, after he murdered a friend of his and thirteen muggles. Come on Harry, we still have to pick up quite a few things for you."

Harry nodded, taking one last glance at the Aurors. One was now waving their wand over the damaged area, causing some wispy smoke to rise out of certain areas. Harry decided that he should also look up how crime was treated and investigated in the Wizarding world.

Flitwick took Harry down the street. "Since your robes are likely going to take the longest, we'll get you all measured first. Then we can go get your wand, and then your other school supplies."

Harry nodded and together they headed into the store they stopped in front of, Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions. He stepped inside and was almost immediately beset by an older lady. "Ah hello dear, what do you need?" She saw the Professor. "Ah, Hogwarts robes dear? Very well, step up to the podium, we'll get you all measured out and squared away."

Harry stepped up onto the podium and the measure tape unrolled itself from the nearby stool and set about floating around Harry. Harry noticed that a parchment and quill that was also resting on the stool and unrolled itself and the quill had started writing on its own. _Magic is amazing_ , Harry thought. He watched the measure tape wind its way around himself, taking each measurement, before he knew it, the measure was done.

During that time, Malkin asked Flitwick if he needed anything. Flitwick just politely declined, saying that he had everything he needed. Noticing the measurement was done and the measuring tape and parchment had set itself back on the stool.

"There you are dear, be back in an hour to pick up your finished robes." Madam Malkin gave Harry a kind smile before picking up the parchment. "Ah, wait up dear, what was your name again?"

"Harry, ma'am, Harry Potter." Madam Malkin widened her eyes at that, her eyes glanced up to his forehead, something that Harry was slowly getting used whenever he introduced himself.

"Of course, Mr. Potter. Do be careful with who you meet. I expect to see you back here in an hour dear!" Harry nodded. Professor Flitwick had explained about his fame a little when they had first talked. Harry had really thought about it much.

When they exited the store Harry turned to the professor. "What did she mean that I need to be careful of who I meet?"

Flitwick's expression darkened slightly. "She was likely referring to the Death Eaters; when you defeated You-Know-Who, quite a few of his followers were still running free. Some of them do not like you for defeating their 'lord'." Harry nodded. Death Eaters. "I also warned you that there are some who will try to abuse your fame for their own ends. You'll have to be extra careful of your friends Mr. Potter."

Flitwick lead them through the alley. After walking into a slightly quieter part of the alley, Harry stood in front of the green storefront. A faded sign read: Ollivanders, Makers of Fine Wands since 382 B.C. "While you get your wand, I'll you some of the other things you may need like protective gloves, I'll meet you back here."

Harry entered the shop, the bell chiming on his way in. Immediately he spotted an old man helping a blonde haired girl at the counter. Quite a few boxes were stacked on one side of the counter, and the blonde was holding a wand in hand. She gave it a sharp flick and Harry felt a warm wind suddenly sweep through the shop. The girls hair fanned out behind her, and she beamed at the wand she held in her hand.

"Ah, looks like you take after your grandmother the most, 10 and a half inches, elm and dragon heartstring, Miss Greengrass." the man said from behind the counter—Harry guess he was Mr. Ollivander. "That will be 7 galleons." The girl reached into their robes for a small pouch before pulling out the required money and handed it over. She gathered her items and turned to leave. As she turned around, she spotted Harry. Harry felt as if she was scrutinizing him. She looked him up and down once, before marching off out of the store, not even giving him a greeting.

Harry wondered what that was about, but was too excited to get a wand. He walked up to the counter.

"Ah, Mr. Potter, I was wondering when I would see you in my shop. I am Mr. Ollivander." The man introduced himself. "One moment, let me get some wands for you to try."

Ollivander disappeared behind the shelves of boxes, saying something to Harry. "It seems like it was only yesterday when your mother was in this very shop buying her first wand. A willow wand, unicorn hair, ten and three quarters inches. Quite adept at charms work." Mr. Ollivander appeared from the shelves carrying a box. He set the box on the counter before disappearing down another aisle. "Your father on the other hand, preferred mahogany, dragon core, eleven inches. It was well suited to transfiguration works."

Mr. Ollivander appeared again, carrying another box and set it down on the counter. "Very well, let's see if you take after either of your parents." Mr. Ollivander pulled off the cover of the first box, and pulled out an elegant wand, and gently put it into Harry's hands. Harry gave it a quick flick like he had seen the girl do. The boxes on the walls slid out of the spaces quite violently, falling on the floor in a mess.

"No that won't do. That won't do at all." Harry put the wand back on the counter as Ollivander waved his wand to set the boxes back in place.

"Let us try this one." Mr. Ollivander gestured to the other box, pulling off its cover and offering the thicker and longer wand to Harry. Harry decided to wave it away from the shelves, this time he inadvertently pointed it at the lamp in the corner. He gave it a quick flick and the glass burst suddenly. Harry looked at the lamp in shock, before gently setting the wand back on the counter.

"No that won't do at all." Mr. Ollivander examined Harry for a moment. "You are clearly very different from your parents. I wonder..." Mr Ollivander seemed to get an idea, headed to the very back of the room. He grabbed a box, and gazed at it a bit. He came back out with the box, uncovering it on his way to the front. He handed Harry the wand. Harry pointed it at the wall, hoping that nothing would explode this time. He gave the wand a flick and felt a distinct warmth spread through his body. The wind that he felt earlier when the girl found her wand seemed to surround him.

"How curious." Mr. Ollivander observed.

"Um, sir, what's curious?"

"How interesting that _that_ specific wand should choose you as it's master. That wand is a Holly wand with a Phoenix feather core. The phoenix that gave it's tail feather for your wand donated precisely one other feather, and no others. The other tail feather is part of the wand that gave you your scar."

"He-who-must-not-be-named did fantastic—terrible, but fantastic—feats of magic with his wand, and I expect that you are also destined for such greatness."

Harry just nodded at that. He decided the change the subject. "Sir, what do you mean that the wand chose me as the master?"

"Those of us who study wandlore know this, Mr. Potter: the wand chooses it's master. We aren't completely how they chose their master, but some wands are known to be loyal only to their first master, while others have had a long string of masters. Perhaps one day, if you choose to study wandlore, you'll learn more about it. Now, that will be 7 galleons, Mr. Potter."

Harry spotted something else on the counter. "Can I also get a wand care kit?" Harry asked, pointed at the small box.

Mr. Ollivander smiled. "Of course, wand care is quite simple, though many witches and wizards bother to do it. That will be an additional 10 sickles."

Harry reached into his pouch and pulled out the money to pay for everything. Harry carefully stowed his wand back into the box and gathered everything before heading out to gather the rest of his school supplies.

He found Flitwick patiently waiting for him outside the shop. "Got your wand Mr. Potter?" Harry nodded and showed Flitwick his wand in the box. "Very well, then shall we pick up the remainder of the items?"

Together they headed off to pick up Harry's school trunk as well as a cauldron and potion supplies. Harry picked out a trunk that looked similar to what many of the other students seemed to pick up, a standard sized trunk without any real distinguishing features. Flitwick then brought Harry to pick up a cauldron and potion supplies. Harry was amazed that there were so many different types of cauldrons, and most of them the only distinguishing feature was the thickness of the bottoms. Flitwick just chuckled when Harry asked about the different bottom thicknesses, and said that it was one of the Ministries strange regulations that they had implemented. Flitwick assured Harry that they had picked up the correct cauldron—Pewter, size 2.

As they moved on to through the alley, Harry noticed a group of students talking excitedly about something in the window. Harry moved over to take a look at what they were looking at. The shop was named _Quality Quidditch Supplies_ and the kids were all excitedly staring at a broom. A Nimbus 2000 to be precise.

"Don't even think about it, Mr. Potter." Flitwick announced behind Harry. "Minerva may boast of your father's ability on a broom, but I'll remind you that first years are not allowed to bring broomsticks."

Harry nodded. "My father was great on a broom?"

"Ah yes, one of the best Quidditch players that year." Harry was about to ask what Quidditch was. Flitwick preempted him. "You'll find out about it at school, I should think you will be on your house team next year, if you possess any ability similar to your father."

Finally they came to the last set of series of items on the list, the books. Flitwick lead Harry to Flourish and Blotts, and Harry immediately set about looking at the various books. Gathering the school books was easy enough, as the front tables had featured packs that contained all the books. After picking up the stack of books Harry moved on to look through the books that lined the shelves. Flitwick left Harry to his browsing as he had gone to check for the latest books on charms.

Harry was amused at the variety of books that filled the shelves. Most of the books had moving images on the front covers, while others seemed to be a bit more alive. Harry came across one book whose cover seemed to shift as if breathing. Harry immediately set the book back on the shelf, it was bound by a belt and the edge of the book looked like it had teeth. Not wishing to find out if the teeth were real or decorative, Harry moved on. Searching for books that caught his interest Harry wandered through to the back of the shop.

There he came across a bushy haired brunette who was buried in the book she was currently reading. Next to her sat a stack of other books, quite a few of them relating to the history of the wizarding world. She didn't even notice Harry as he skirted around her and caught a glimpse of the book title: _Hogwarts, a History_. Harry took note to find a copy of the book later, it could be interesting, but decided to keep browsing. Harry found a book that caught his attention: _So you want to be an Auror? A basic introduction to Magical Law Enforcement_.

Glancing through the book, Harry decided to keep it. It held a recommended courses to take and to focus on as well as some details about farther training and extra tidbits of information on what Aurors actually do.

Flitwick eventually came over to Harry, finding him in the corner riffling through another book. "Found something that interests you, Mr. Potter?" Harry nodded, and showed him the two non-school books that he had picked up. One was the Auror book and the other was a book on the introduction of wandlore. Flitwick just looked at the books with interest. "So you wish to be an Auror, Mr. Potter? It's a lot of hardwork. And wandlore! How fascinating. Though I'm afraid Hogwarts doesn't offer any classes on the subject, you'll have to find someone like Mr. Ollivander to teach you."

"Thats alright, I just thought what Mr. Ollivander said about wands was rather interesting, so I decided to take a look myself." Flitwick smiled at Harry's curiosity on the subject.

"Very well, your clothes should be ready shortly so we can head out." Harry paid for the books and headed out of the shop with his professor.

"One last thing Mr. Potter." Flitwick pointed to the shop. "Would you like an owl, or a different pet."

Harry thought about it for a moment. "Owl," he announced. Then he would be able to write to the professor or whoever else if he needed anything. Flitwick nodded and directed them into Eeylops Owl Emporium. Harry walked into the shop and was besieged by all sorts of hooting and screeching in the shop. Harry took a look through the shop, seeing all sorts of owls. One owl in particular caught his eye. A bright white snowy owl seemed to stare back at him. Harry walked up to the cage and the brought a finger up to the cage. The owl leaned forward and nipped Harry on the finger.

Harry walked out of the shop clutching the owl's cage. The owl, successfully having convinced Harry to buy her, decided to take a nap; she tucked her head under her wing and Harry made sure to not jostle the cage too much.

"Have a name yet?" Harry shook his head. He'll decide on a name when he got home.

Finally they returned to Madam Malkin's and gathered Harry's finished robes. They headed off to Leaky Cauldron to return Harry home.

"One last thing, Mr. Potter," said Flitwick. "You have your train ticket correct?" Harry nodded. "Okay, I recommend getting onto the platform using the Floo network. You know how to use it now, just announce 'Platform 9 ¾' and you'll be whisked away to the platform. If you have any other questions, I'd be delighted to answer them, as you now have an owl. I shall see you on the first day of the term Mr. Potter. I do hope to see you in my house." Flitwick waved at Harry, and Harry waved goodbye back.

"Oh and just to make your traveling slightly easier easier, Mr. Potter." Flitwick waved his wand over the trunk and shrunk it down. Harry deposited the wand neatly into his pocket. He stepped to the Floo and announced Mrs. Figg's address before disappearing in the green flame.


	4. Farewell Vernon

_Disclaimer_ : I don't own Harry Potter, I'm just playing around in the sandbox that J.K. Rowling created.

-v-

 _Important A/N:_ The previous chapter was also updated, due to the fact that I missed somethings that I shouldn't have missed, mostly Hedwig. The chapter also saw some other details added in and some general changes. Doesn't really change the flow of the story though.

 **A Study in Magic**

-v-

Chapter 4: _Farewell Vernon_

=-v-=

Harry stumbled out of the Floo back into Mrs. Figg's home. The owl, disturbed by the Floo travel gave Harry an angry hoot before tucking her head back under her wing and dozing off again. Pulling out the trunk out of his pocket he set it on the floor and then set his cage next to the trunk, a decent space away.

Harry found Mrs. Figg on the couch watching two of her cats play around, she looked up when the Floo flared up. "Why didn't you ever tell me you were a squib?" asked Harry.

"Dumbledore's orders. He wanted me to keep an eye out on you, but not tell you anything. He said you were 'too young'. And with the way the Dursley's treated you, I couldn't make them think I was going easy on you, else they would never send you here again."

"You treated me nicely when you broke your leg."

"I had an excuse of a broken leg, and the Dursley's were away." Harry accepted that as an answer, Mrs. Figg probably could have gotten away once or twice treating him nicely, but Vernon likely would have stopped the second that happened anymore.

"Why did Dumbledore want to keep an eye out on me?" Harry asked.

"Because of what you did. Dumbledore was sure that it would attract the wrong sort of attention. Perhaps You-know-who's followers would try to kill you. He wanted to protect you." Harry didn't comment, he was sure that there were better ways of protecting people than tossing them with abusive relatives. Harry decided to look into Dumbledore, surely the headmaster of a school had better resources to protect Harry.

"Do you mind if I leave my trunk and supplies here? They'd be safer from Dudley and Vernon here." Mrs. Figg nodded and allowed it. "Can I also use the Floo if I need to?"

"Only if you get supervision where ever you go. That we someone can ensure your safety." Harry nodded, that was fair, especially if some dark lord's followers wanted him dead.

The owl hooted softly from the cage. Harry looked out and noticed that it was getting dark outside. He looked back to his trunk, and seeing that it had returned to normal size, he retrieved some owl treats from it. He opened the cage let her out.

"It's a pity you picked an owl. I was hoping you would go for a kneazle." The owl hopped onto Harry's arm and picked out an owl treat that Harry held out for her. Harry stroked her feathers.

"A kneazle?" Harry asked, curious.

Mrs. Figg gestured towards one of the large cats in the room. Harry immediately realized that it wasn't a regular cat. The large ears and plumed tail marked it different from the other cats. "I breed kneazles and cats, and some of these are hybrids. Would have liked for you to take one with you." Mrs. Figg shrugged.

Harry headed outside. "Do you know where I live?" She gave a hoot and took off, circling around his house once before landing back on his arm. "Smart girl. I'm sure you want some exercise after being cooped in that cage for so long." She gave another hoot before heading off.

Harry returned to Mrs. Figg's home to pick out a few books to read while he was at home. _A History of Magic_ and the book on wandlore seemed to good choices, and pulled out some owl treats

Harry arrived home, and found that the Dursleys were already eating dinner. Vernon just pointedly ignored Harry, Dudley seemed aware that something was going on and that if his father was ignoring Harry, there was probably a good reason for it and he ignored Harry too. Petunia was the only one that acknowledged Harry's existence. Harry just returned to his room afterwords, Vernon didn't stop him and make him wash to dishes; he continued treating Harry as if he didn't exist.

Harry just decided to settle in bed and crack open his book. He sat down, slowly, making sure to avoid any springs sticking out of the bed. He decided to just skim through _A History of Magic_ , he would be reading it in class anyways. While skimming through the book he picked up a name, Hedwig. He rather liked the name and decided to name his owl that.

Harry then swapped over to the wandlore book.

Harry woke up the next morning, book still clutched in his hands. He skimmed the page real quick, trying to remember the last thing he read. _Holly wood_ , right, he was reading up on the properties of his wand. Phoenix cores were definitely uncommon, but they weren't _rare_ , just hard to pair with a wizard. Holly wood was the wood of protective people. Harry wasn't sure if that was true about him, but the introduction stated that wands could detect more about a person than just who they thought they were at that time.

The next few days passed surprisingly slowly for Harry. He believed that being ignored by Vernon and Dudley was the greatest thing, but his aunt was ignoring him too. He sometimes found himself locked in his room at Vernon's whim, just so his uncle wouldn't see him. Vernon, continued to be aggressive towards Harry though, even when he was pointedly ignoring him; Harry found himself sprawled out on the floor repeatedly when Vernon tried to walk through the space Harry occupied. Vernon seemed to enjoy doing it rather frequently and Harry tried to stay out of the way.

About a week and a half later, Harry noticed something strange with his aunt. She had started wearing sweaters again. Harry knew that it had to stop. He needed to put a stop to Vernon's bullying. Harry gathered together his evidence he had hidden away in his room. He found Hedwig sitting in his room, watching Harry carefully. Binding the scraps of paper explaining what Vernon had done with some pictures and the tape, Harry handed the bundle over to Hedwig who clutched it in his talon.

"Hey girl, can you bring this to this address?" Harry had figured out where the officer—the one that helped him avoid Dudley in the playground one time—lived. He didn't live within the neighborhood, but he did live close enough. Harry figured it would be best if Hedwig delivered the notes and everything, since he couldn't use the phone without Vernon breathing down his neck to figure out who he was calling.

A few minutes later Hedwig returned and Harry had another note. This time it was to Mrs. Figg, asking if she would help testify against Vernon. After all, Mrs. Figg knew what was going on, and apparently was stopped because _Dumbledore_ told her to. Harry briefly wondered why the headmaster of his school would allow him to be abused. He decided he'd look into at school.

Hedwig flew out again, a much shorter flight before returning back. Harry just stayed in his room that day, reading and spending time petting his owl.

The next day Harry had woken up fairly early. He suspected that they would be getting visitors today, visitors that Uncle Vernon would not appreciate at all. The family had finished breakfast and Harry had returned to his room when he saw a police car pull up in front of their house. Harry didn't rush down stairs just yet, he wanted to see what Vernon would do.

The knock on the door surprised the rest of the family. Vernon grumbled something as he got up to answer the door. Harry hung out at the top of the stairs, peeking his head around the corner to watch Vernon's reaction. Vernon answered the door to two police officers outside. Vernon just blinked at them. "What's this about?" demanded Vernon.

Both officers frowned when they heard his angry tone. "Hello Mr. Dursley, I'm Officer Hopkins, and this is Officer Gilmore, we are here to investigate a reports of child abuse." Vernon's face drained of all of its color, turning a deathly pale white.

"O-of course, er…" Vernon tried to find some way to stall. "uhh… who reported this?"

"It was an anonymous tip." The officer stated. Judging by the way Vernon had first yelled at them at the door, who knew what would happen if they discovered his own nephew reported him.

"Vernon, who's at the door." Harry's aunt asked from kitchen.

"It's… the police." Vernon knew he was trapped.

"We just have some questions for you regarding your nephew, one Harry Potter? We'll be out of here before you know it." The police officer didn't include that someone would would be taken away with them.

Vernon reluctantly allowed them to the sitting room, where he was joined by Aunt Petunia. Harry decided to wait a bit.

"We wanted to ask you about your nephew."

"What about the fre—boy?" Vernon eyes widened slightly at his mistake. The police officers looked at each other, taking note of it.

"You have a son too right? Dudley?"

Vernon just nodded at that, he didn't trust his voice just yet.

"Do you know if your son was bullying Mr. Potter?"

Petunia kept quiet, not immediately leaping to her son's defense. As much as she cared about Dudley, she had let Harry's plight go on for far too long.

"Uh… I'm sure that it was just friendly sibling rivalry?" Vernon offered as way of explanation.

The Officer Hopkins just raised his eyebrows. "Not from what I saw. Mr. Potter seemed quite fearful and rather eager to get away from."

"I'm sure the boys just carried it a bit too far, I'll give Dudley a warning."

The officer was about to comment on a warning being far too light, but his partner had decided to move on to the next topic. "We've heard reports that the neighbors are scared of Mr. Potter, and that you are sending him to St. Brutus's Secure Centre for Incurably Criminal Boys?" Harry was slightly surprised. That's new. Aunt Petunia must've known that Hogwarts was a boarding school, and that she told Vernon, so he started spreading rumors of Harry getting sent to some other bad boarding school.

Vernon saw an opening and seized upon it. "Of course, that freak just causes all sort of problems!"

Harry decided to come in then. He was still wearing Dudley's oversized clothing. Harry decided that after getting rid of Vernon he was going to go back to Diagon Alley or have his aunt bring him shopping for a new set of clothes, but for now, it was fantastic to use against the Dursleys.

Officer Hopkins spotted Harry and gave him a small smile. It morphed quickly into a grimace once he noticed the clothing that Harry was in. The officer scolded himself for not investigating sooner, considering Dudley was significantly larger than Harry, the Dursleys clearly had no problem with food, yet Harry was practically skin and bone.

Harry walked in and the officer's introduced themselves. Harry just noted the look of hatred on Vernon's face. "You are Mr. Potter?" Harry just meekly nodded. He was pretty sure that Vernon was going to blow up soon; judging by how his face was slowly turning red. Officer Hopkins walked up to him and asked him if he would show him around the house. Harry nodded and quickly exited the room. Harry decided that he would first show his current quarters, and brought the Officer upstairs. After a quick tour, showing off the master bedroom, then Dudley's room, and finally his own room, the officer took Harry into the room. "I'm sure you know that we almost certainly have enough evidence at this point to bring Vernon in."

Harry nodded at that. The officer asked Harry some questions, and Harry responded to them best he could. Harry told the stories of being locked in the room, after the incident at the Zoo, Harry didn't go into specifics, just that he was blamed for causing trouble he had no control over. Harry was also extremely embarrassed when he explained how he lived in a cupboard for most of his life. The officer noticed Harry's embarrassment.

"Vernon calls you a freak right?" Harry barely responded with a nod, he looked down and studied the floorboards following the little swirls they made. "Look, he's the freak. What he did was child abuse, he may not have physically abused you, but there was mental abuse. You aren't a freak, you don't need to be ashamed of what they did." Harry nodded at that. "Look, I recommend you find a hobby or something, something to focus on that isn't your past. You'll be fine." The officer gave him a small grin.

"Alright, you ready? Let's head back down and bring your uncle to justice." Harry gave a wide grin at that, happy to finally be completely rid of his uncle.

As they walked down the stairs, Harry decided to drag the officer to towards the kitchen real quick. In a voice just loud enough for those in the sitting to hear, Harry announced. "And this is cupboard." The officer took note of the lock on the door, similar to the one that had adorned the _outside_ of Harry's room. He took one look inside the cupboard and frowned, if this wasn't enough to arrest Vernon, what happened next was.

Mount Vernon erupted.

"BOY, YOU SHOULD BE GRATEFUL THAT WE TOOK YOU IN. WE SHOULDN'T HAVE HAD YOUR FREAKISHNESS INFECTING THE HOUSE AT ALL. WE SHOULD HAVE TOSSED YOU INTO AN ORPHANAGE THE MOMENT WE GOT YOU, OR LEFT YOU OUTSIDE." Vernon ran jumped over the couch he was sitting stumbling slightly and charged toward Harry in his rage. Harry was surprised and Officer Hopkins stepped in between the two of them. The other officer had leapt over the couch and chased after Vernon.

Vernon, in his rage, didn't realize that some people where better at actually fighting than he. As Vernon barreled towards him, Officer Hopkins just stepped to the side and reached out to grab his arm and simultaneous trip him. Vernon, being the large mass of body weight he was, couldn't dodge out of the way, and fell to the ground in a heap, his arm locked painfully behind him as the officer came down on top of him to pin him to the ground. Vernon continued to grumble on the ground but it was already a lost cause. The officers listed off the charges—child abuse and domestic violence—and snapped on the handcuffs. Petunia just watched from the armchair she was sitting in, in a bit of a daze.

It took both officers together to lift Vernon up and drag him out the door, shoving him into the police car. Officer Hopkins came back into talk to Harry and Petunia. They said that they won't take away Dudley, as perhaps he was just under the strong influence of Vernon, however they were going to file a report and alert Smeltings about his possible bullying attitude and that they should keep an extra eye out on him.

With that the officers left, leaving Harry in a slight state of shock, and Petunia in a deep state of shock. Harry couldn't believe that Vernon was gone, and that all he would have to do is deal with Dudley. Petunia just returned to her daily routine, not sure what exactly to do now that Vernon was gone. Harry had returned to his room to continue reading the book on wandlore.

Harry was amazed at the variety of wood and cores and what they each mean. He noted that each of the woods had various properties, sometimes describing the wand itself, other times the wizard. Red oak wands were usually possessed by people with distinct trademark spells—matching the distinct trademark color of the wood—as well as those with fast reflexes and instincts. Someone holding that would be a strong duelist. Similar to those who wielded aspen wands. Other wands seemed to have distinct drawbacks, laurel wands for example, wouldn't do anything dishonorable. The inability to curse someone in the back or even perform lethal spells seemed to be quite limiting, yet as Harry read on, laurel wand wielders would likely have more than enough knowledge to succeed on any quest they set out on.

Harry made note of the general properties of wand woods and cores, as it seemed every witch and wizard carried a wand, he would be able to find out what type of person they were just by the wand they carried.

Later that day, Dudley returned from hanging out with his gang. Harry and Petunia together broke the news of how Vernon was arrested. Dudley just blinked and stared at them blankly. Harry wasn't sure if it was because Dudley didn't register the fact that his father was arrested or if he simply did not believe them. Dudley was _simple_ enough for Harry to believe that Dudley thought the former.

The remainder of the month passed without much excitement. Dudley realized what it meant when Vernon was arrested when Vernon didn't show up at all anymore; he was much more subdued as a result, no one to back up his bullying. Petunia started being a bit more firm against Dudley, not giving in to his demands all the time and making him do some work. Dudley just complained for the most part, but slowly started doing his portion of the chores. Harry got to enjoy some more free time, and spent it reading up on more wandlore and about Aurors, after he retrieved the book from Mrs. Figg's home a few days later.

The first of September arrived rather abruptly for Harry, who's days started blurring together as he spent large amounts of time with the books he bought and with Hedwig. He had a few excursions, once with his aunt who had finally went out and bought him some new clothes that fit him, and another time with Mrs. Figg to Diagon Alley to pick up just a few more clothes to round out his wardrobe—Petunia was still a bit stingy with the money spent on Harry.

Harry could barely contain his excitement on the first of September, he was about to enter a new world. Or as Tom welcomed him, a return to an old world, a world where he was famous. Harry was still a bit nervous about that, and annoyed at everyone that would stare at his scar the two times he went to the Alley.

Harry found himself staring into Mrs. Figg's fireplace that morning. Hesitant to take the step. He finally found his courage, taking a pinch of Floo powder and tossing it into the fireplace, he announced, "Platform 9¾!" in a loud and clear voice. The fire flared up green, and Harry stepped in, pulling his full sized trunk and Hedwig with him.

Harry tumbled out of the fireplace after what felt like a lengthy journey. He stumbled into a person on the other end and collapsed in a tangle of limbs with the other person. Hedwig gave Harry an angry hoot as Harry right the cage and tried to disentangle himself from the other person's limbs. He was then aware that the other person was a girl. Long red hair covered parts of his vision.

Harry mumbled out a "sorry" before scooting away from the girl. "Oh its no problem, first time Floo travel?"

Harry mumbled out a "pretty much". He noticed a hand reaching out to help him. He looked up to see a stern looking lady wearing a monocle and short gray hair. Harry looked at the hand and hesitated for a moment before taking it and standing up. "Thanks."

"Your welcome, I'm Madam Bones. This is my niece Susan." Susan held out her hand and smiled. Harry shook it and introduced himself.

"Harry. Harry Potter." Harry suppressed the urge to groan when both of their eyes darted up to his forehead. Madam Bones recovered from her shock quicker than Susan and didn't stare at his scar for too long.

"Let's step away from the Floo, before someone else comes through trips over us." Madam Bones and Susan lead Harry onto the platform. Almost as soon as they stepped onto the platform, Susan spotted her friend and yelled out "Hannah!"

She ran off into the crowd. Madam Bones turned to Harry. "You'll be alright?" Harry just gave a nod and headed off towards the train.

Harry got a good look at the train, a giant red steam engine with the words Hogwarts Express adorned on it. Looking along the train, the first few carriages were already full of students, quite a few hanging out the windows and talking to their parents or other family members. Some younger children seemed to skulk about next to their parents, sad that they couldn't go on the trip just yet.

Harry navigated his way through the crowd, careful not to step on any of the cats that seemed dart between everyone's legs. Owls fluttered about, some trapped within cages, while others simply flew about and sat on the edge of the train. All around the crowd milled about, students about talking to each other or their parents.

"Mom! Why can't I go?"

"You are too young, you'll go next year."

"But I want to go this year."

"Gran, I can't find my toad anywhere."

"Oh! Neville, isn't he in your luggage?"

"Come on now Lee, give us a look."

Some surprised gasps and high squeals pierced the air shortly afterword.

Harry continued to push through the crowd, and finally boarded the train. Now he just had to find a compartment.

~v~

A/N: As another quick question, does anyone actually read the Author's notes? If people don't mind, I'll put in a small authors note at the end of the chapters, if they do mind, I'll just put one giant one at the end when I complete the story.

Also, this chapter didn't see much editing, got a bit busy over the week. Hopefully next week will be significantly better. If I made mistakes and stuff, feel free to point them out. I'll try to fix them asap. Thanks for all the people who reviewed the previous chapters!


	5. Hogwarts Express

**A Study in Magic**

==v==

Chapter 5: _The Hogwarts Express_

-v-

Harry wandered through the corridor of the train, holding Hedwig out in front of him and dragging his trunk behind him. He checked the compartments as he wandered past, most of the compartments were already occupied with excited students catching up with their friends.

Harry finally came to an empty compartment, and exhausted from the journey, he put Hedwig into a seat, and pulled his trunk into the compartment. As soon as he did, he noticed that another trunk was already occupying one of the racks. Harry thought about leaving the compartment to find an actually empty one, Harry decided to just stick with this one. He struggled to lift his trunk up onto the rack and ended up dropping the trunk painfully on his foot. Twice.

Harry sat panting with his trunk at an awkward angle on the seat.

"Need a hand?"

"Yes. Please." Harry panted out. Sitting back against the seat to get a breath.

He looked to the person that had offered help. Red-hair, abundant freckles. Harry noted that his robes seemed a little tattered, but want to call it out.

"Oy! Fred, C'mon and help out real quick." Shortly Fred showed up. Harry had slight difficulty distinguishing to two.

"What's up George? Oh." With both twins help, they had Harry's trunk stowed away in no time.

They turned back around. Harry, feeling a bead of sweat roll down his forehead reached up and brushed it away.

"What's that?" One of the twins pointed at Harry's scar; in brushing away the sweat, Harry accidentally revealed it.

"Blimey! Are you?"

"He is." One of the twins then addressed him directly. "You are, aren't you?"

"What?" Harry was confused.

"Harry Potter." Both twins said simultaneously.

"Oh, him… Err—I mean, yes, I am."

The two boys stared at his forehead a bit more. Harry turned a bit embarrassed at the attention. Before he could ask them to stop staring though a voice rang out from outside the compartment.

"Fred? George? Can you help out your brother here?"

"Coming, mom." Both twins said together. They gave Harry one more look before leaving.

Harry let out a breath of relief after they left. Finding that his scar was rather annoying because of the attention it drew, Harry decided to just remain in the compartment until the train left and decided to just read. Carefully, Harry extracted the wandlore book from the trunk, making sure not to accidentally pull the trunk from the rack; He then took a seat and cracked open the book to continue reading it.

As he sat down the whistle on the train blew and train began to chug out of the station. Harry watched as the train station slid away. Harry turned away from the window and looked around the compartment; since Harry had never been on a train, he had nothing to compare it to, but he did find it comfortable enough.

He eyes glanced back up towards the other trunk that occupied the space. It didn't look too different from Harry's trunk, though it was certainly older, more worn and faded. Nicks and scratches covered the edges of trunk, the edges of the trunk seemed to have small dents in it. Harry spotted the tag on it, it just stated Greengrass on it, though in front of the name seemed to be a portion that was scratched off.

Greengrass. Ah, Harry remembered, the girl from the wand shop. Harry remembered the glance that she had given him before, though he still wasn't quite sure what it was about. Putting it out of his mind, he opened his book to continue reading about wands. He had finished the sections on wand length, wand cores, and wand wood, now he was reading up some of the principle rules regarding wands. Only the first one was well known and well studied, that wands choose the wizard. Harry looked through the next section, rare interactions between brother wands.

The compartment door opened, and a girl stepped into the compartment. She paused as she noticed Harry sitting in the compartment. When he heard the compartment door open, Harry glanced up at the girl. The simply stared at each other for a bit, after a while the girl moved over and sat opposite Harry. Harry looked her over, she wore what appeared to be more or less standard robes of wizards, she wasn't wearing any standard muggle clothes. So she was almost certainly a pureblood witch. He looked over her robes, noting that while they were in good condition, they certainly were new or top quality. The hems seemed a little frayed and it seemed just a bit too big for her. Not noticeably large, like Harry's old clothes had been, but certainly not the tailored fit ones that Harry now had in his trunk. Harry also observed the sparkly earrings that she wore. Those seemed fairly new in comparison to the rest of her clothes.

She was also looking over Harry, noting his better appearance than when she had seen him at Ollivanders, but still noted his slightly slouching posture and his unkempt hair. She turned and strode over to the bench opposite Harry and took a seat. Harry

They continued to stare at each other for a bit; Harry, feeling a bit awkward decided to break the ice. Feeling a bit nervous, he stretched out his arm nonetheless and introduced himself. "Hello, I'm Harry Potter."

"Charmed, Potter. I'm Miss Daphne Greengrass." Harry noted that she had added in the _Miss_ in there specifically. A pureblood custom perhaps? Maybe it was just a habit that she had. "You are certainly wearing better clothing than last time we met. Those clothes certainly weren't fit for someone of _your station_ to wear. Though your current clothes aren't that great either."

Harry frowned at that, looking down, still a little self-conscious about his clothes and what he looked like before.

Daphne changed the topic. She motioned towards the book that Harry held in his arms. "Wandlore? That's not a usual topic anyone studies," she commented.

"I don't know. I just thought it was interesting," admitted Harry. "Wands can quite a bit about the person wielding them."

"Really? So what does your wand say about yourself?" Daphne asked. Harry looked at her for a moment, then pulled out his wand.

"11 inch wand, holly and phoenix feather core." Daphne's eyes widened slightly at the mention of a phoenix feather core, but she recovered quickly. "11 inches is fairly average length so nothing really of note there," Harry recited. "Phoenix feather cores are the pickiest, and the rarest of wand cores, capable of a great range in magic. They also have the most initiative, apparently sometimes acting on its own.

"Holly wood is generally considered protective and err..." Harry paused for a moment. "It works most happily for those who need help overcoming anger or impulsiveness." Harry cheeks tinged red with a bit of embarrassment at that statement. "They also generally choose owners engaged in some dangerous quest."

"Oh? And what dangerous quest are you on, Potter?"

Harry just shrugged. "Maybe I'm not on a quest yet?"

Daphne accepted that answer. "So how about a wand you aren't familiar with and haven't had time to look up. What can you tell me about my wand?" She reached into her robes and pulled out her wand. Just a bit shorter than Harry's own wand; it was thinner and didn't have the distinct handle that Harry's wand possessed. Harry looked over the wand, but didn't really need to. He remembered the wand from when Ollivander announced it in the shop.

"Elm and dragon core." Harry recalled. He proceeded to recite the information from the book. "A dragon core usually casts stronger and showier spells, and it can quickly learn new spells, just like the wielder." Daphne gave a small nod at that. "Elm wands are generally possessed by those with a certain presence and natural dignity." Harry stated. "Kind of like the way you carry yourself."

Daphne gave a small nod at that.

"So are you a pureblood?" Harry asked, curious as to what life was like when magic was always present.

Daphne's lips pulled into a tight line. She hesitated for a few moments, before slowly nodding her head.

"So what was it like growing up with magic?"

Daphne frowned at the question. "It was pleasant. Did you never see or do any magic?"

Harry shook his head. "I didn't know it existed until about a month ago."

Daphne's eyebrows shot up in surprise, before she frowned again. "Bu-"

There was a clattering outside the compartment. Both Harry and Daphne looked over at the compartment door to see it slide open and reveal an old dimpled lady smiling at them.

"Anything from the carts dear?" Harry jumped up at the offer for food, having missed breakfast. For the first time he had money to spend on food that he wanted. He went up to the lady and asked for Mars Bars; she kindly informed him that she didn't have that, she did however carry things like cauldron cakes, chocolate frogs and other various pastries.

Harry realizing that this was his first foray with wizarding treats, he decided to get some of everything. Harry turned back into the compartment and set it down on the small table against the window. Daphne frowned at all the treats that Harry bought.

"You want anything, I may have bought too much." Harry offered up a chocolate frog to Daphne. Daphne hesitated a moment before reaching out and taking the frog.

She opened the package and to Harry's amazement the frog leapt out and jumped onto the window. Harry stared at it. "That's not a real frog is it?"

Daphne looked on with amusement. "No it's not." She held out her hand and the frog jumped into it. She snapped off a leg and the frog immediately stopped moving. She ate the piece she snapped off before setting the rest of it aside. She turned over the package and pulled out a card. "Huh, Ptolemy! Pretty sure my sister doesn't have that yet." She pocketed the card.

"What was that?" Harry indicated the card she just put away in her pocket.

"Those? Oh, they're chocolate frog cards. Something collectable with little bits of information on each. My sister collects them." Daphne explained. "You really don't know anything at all about the wizarding world?"

Apparently it was still a shock to her. "No. Not until Professor Flitwick showed up and explained to me about it. I guess there are still a lot of things I need to learn."

Harry opened his own chocolate frog, Harry caught the frog and ate a piece. Just like regular milk chocolate, which was to say pretty good. Harry pulled out the card and looked it over. An old man with half-moon spectacles looked at him, giving him a small smile and a wink. Harry blinked. He flipped the card over and read it over. _Albus Dumbledore_. Huh, so this was Dumbledore. Harry flipped the card back over, and noted with surprise that the portrait was gone.

"Do all pictures disappear in the wizarding world?"

"Some of them like to move around quite a bit. Why?"

Harry showed her the card and the empty frame. Daphne just shrugged. Harry set the card aside and dug tried some of the other treats. Cauldron cakes, pumpkin pastries, sugar quills, Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans...

Daphne gave him a small warning about that. Oh, so Bertie Bott's _Every_ Flavor Beans; Harry wasn't sure why witches and wizards would want to eat _every_ flavor beans, but decided that the magical world was just a little strange.

After a while Harry decided to ask Daphne something that had been on his mind for some time. "Do you know any spells?"

Daphne smiled, "I did get some practice in on some simple spells, want to see?" Daphne pulled her wand out again with a flourish. Setting aside his food, Harry watched her closely. Daphne opened her mouth and-

The compartment door swung open. A red head poked his head into the compartment. "Woah, are you Harry Potter?" Harry nodded. "I thought my brothers were just making that stuff up. Do you really have it?"

"What?"

He pointed to his forehead.

Harry pulled aside the hair to show the scar. Harry noticed the frown the creased Daphne's face.

Without waiting to be invited in, the boy sat down next to Harry. He pointed at the food that was still arrayed out on the table. "Can I have one?"

Harry, mumbled out a "sure" and the boy grabbed a chocolate frog. He didn't even seem aware that Daphne was in the compartment. Harry looked over the boy. The boy had bright red hair and freckles all over his face. His robes seemed to be quite tattered and didn't fit him perfectly. He also didn't have any muggle clothes on, another pureblood Harry supposed. Though his manners seemed to be quite opposite that of Daphne's. Where she ate carefully and cleanly with small bites, this boy seemed to shove the entire chocolate frog into his mouth. Covering his hands and mouth in chocolate.

"So what's your name?" Harry asked.

"Ron Weasley!" he answered back with his mouth full.

He didn't still didn't notice that Daphne was sitting across from him. Her face contorted from a frown to outright disgust.

Harry turned back to Daphne, eager to see a spell cast by someone his age. He did briefly look through most of his school books, but he wanted to see the skill level of someone around his age cast a spell. "So, the spell?"

Ron looked up from his food, finally aware that someone else was in the room. "Oi! You guys are casting spells? My brother taught me one!"

Ron pulled out his wand and a rat, ignoring Daphne's continued look of distaste. "This is my useless rat, Scabbers. George gave me a spell to turn him yellow." Harry noted the brownish yellow color of the wand. It was chipped in various places and had some silvery hair sticking out of it. "Charlie's old wand, stupid unicorn hair is coming out of it."

Harry noted that the wood was ash, and tried to recall what the book said about ash wands. Ash was stubborn, and stuck with its original owner, especially with unicorn hair. Strange, Harry thought, Ron was using a wand that wouldn't work very well with him.

Ron cleared his throat.

 _Sunshine, daisies, butter mellow,_

 _Turn this stupid, fat rat yellow!_

"That is not a real spell!" Daphne emphatically stated.

"Oh yeah, well do you know any spells?" Ron challenged.

Daphne nodded and got ready with the wand again. She took a breath in and-

The compartment door slid open again. "Have you seen a toad? A boy named Neville lost his." A bushy, brown haired girl poked her head into the cabin.

Daphne looked annoyed at being interrupted again. Harry looked over and shook his head. "No, we haven't seen a toad."

"Oh! Are you casting spells. Let's see it then!" the girl sat down next to Daphne in the compartment. Daphne gave her a glare before she resumed attempting the spell. Drawing a question mark in the air with the swish and flick of her wand, she called out a " _colloportus!_ "

The compartment door, left open when the girl came in, snapped shut. The click of the lock sounded in the compartment. The girl watched wide-eyed at the results of the magic. She got up and pulled on the door. It remained shut. Daphne gave a pleased smile at that, happy that her spell stood up to the simple test.

"Wow, I read about that spell. _Colloportus_ , right? The locking spell. The counter-spell is _Alohomora_. Its all in the first year charms books. I've read all of the course books, hopefully that will be enough, and that I won't fail any of the classes—I'm Hermione Granger, by the way, and you are?" She said everything extremely rapidly. Harry and Daphne just sort of stared at her for a moment as their brains caught up with the rapid fire words that tumbled out of her mouth.

"Err…. Charmed. I'm Miss Daphne Greengrass." Daphne said, still smiling at Hermione's reaction to her spell. There was that _Miss_ again.

"Ron Weasley." Ron answered, again, mouthful from chewing on a pumpkin pastry.

"I'm Harry Potter."

"Are you _really_? I've read about you!" Harry wasn't sure how to respond, nor was he even aware that he was in a book. "You're in _Modern Magical History_ and _The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts_ and _Great Wizarding Events of the Twentieth Century_!"

Harry made a note to look up those events later, he wanted to see what the books said about him and possibly for more information on Voldemort and why his parents were murdered.

"Anyways, what houses are you do you guys think you are going to be sorted into? I've asked around and I think Gryffindor is a great house to be in. They say that Dumbledore was in that house. You guys should also change soon, I suspect we'll be arrive shortly." She turned back to the door, her face contorted in concentration. Drawing a little reverse S in the air, she said " _Alohomora_ ". The lock on the compartment door clicked open. Harry caught a glimpse of Hermione's satisfied look when she successfully unlocked the door before she headed out, mumbling something about a toad.

As soon as she left, Ron commented, "I really hope I'm not in the same house as her."

"Which houses are your brother's in?" Harry asked.

"Gryffindor. Mum and Dad were there too. I suppose that being in Ravenclaw wouldn't be too bad. But I can't imagine being in _Slytherin_." He spat out the word as if it was something disgusting he had just eaten.

"What's wrong with Slytherin?" Daphne challenged.

"It's the house of You-know-who! All the dark wizards come from that house."

"Merlin himself was from Slytherin. Does that make Merlin a dark wizard?" Daphne calmly responded.

Ron sputtered a bit, trapped between his belief that Slytherins were all dark wizards because of You-know-who's existence, and unable to say anything negative about Merlin.

Harry already liked the idea of being put into Ravenclaw, he enjoyed the company of the cheery charms professor and thought that Holmes would have likely been in Ravenclaw if he was to be sorted.

The three then decided to get changed into their school robes. Ron returned to his compartment while Harry stepped out to give Daphne the privacy to change, before they swapped and Harry changed into his school robes. Harry looked over Daphne after she had changed, these robes still didn't fit her perfectly and were just a tad bit too large for her, though it wasn't extremely noticeable.

Ron came back in a short while later, apparently deciding that he really wanted to hang out with Harry. This time, Daphne kept a neutral expression. Harry noticed that Ron's clothes weren't much better than before. Still tattered and patched in some spots, clearly second hand robes, similar to his wand.

The compartment door slid open once again, this time it was three boys standing there. Harry looked them over, the boy standing in the middle had silvery blond hair, and robes that seemed to shimmer slightly; they were tailored to fit him perfectly, and even his shoes shone under the robes.

The two larger boys flanking him—reminding Harry of bodyguards and of Dudley's gang—weren't so impeccably well dressed, but still decent nonetheless. New fitted robes, similar to what Harry wore.

Harry noticed movement in the corner of his eyes, glancing over at Daphne out of the corner of his vision he noticed that she had suddenly tensed up. Her wand was in her lap and her knuckles were starting to turn white. Her face was drawn up in a tight frown. The boy didn't seem to notice her, as his attention was focused solely on Harry.

"So it's true then, what the others have been saying. Harry Potter is on the train? So it you then?" Harry looked over the boy in the center.

"Yes." Harry didn't particularly enjoy this attention, but he supposed it was better than when Dudley chased away all his potential friends, at least now he had people he could talk to.

"I'm Malfoy, Draco Malfoy." He pointed to himself, then he indicated the two other boys. "These two are Crabbe and Goyle."

Ron had coughed from next to Harry, drawing attention to himself.

"Think my name is funny do you? I don't even need to ask who you are. Red hair, freckles, and lousy secondhand robes. According to my father, you must be a Weasley." Ron turned slightly red with anger at that statement."

"You'll find that some Wizarding families are better than others, Potter. I can help you be friends with the right sort." He stuck out his arm.

Harry looked at it for a moment before he reached out. "Pleasure to meet you Malfoy, but I think I can make those judgments myself." Malfoy looked rather pleased when he shook hand with Harry, but upon hearing Harry reject his aid, his eyes narrowed. Harry noticed the reaction. "Or I'll have Miss Greengrass's aid if I need assistance," he appended.

That seemed to placate Malfoy slightly, and the boy took notice of the girl sitting in the compartment. Daphne gave Harry a small glare before looking back at Malfoy. They shared a small nod of acknowledgment to each other, but clearly they already had some history. Harry noted the frown that appeared on Malfoy's face, and the way that Daphne tensed the grip on her wand ever slightly. Harry made note to ask about it later.

Draco turned around and marched out of the compartment, taking his two bodyguards with him. Ron, a bit put out by Harry's apparent friendliness towards Malfoy also marched out of the compartment, leaving just Harry and Daphne again.

Daphne looked over at Harry, glaring at him. Harry quickly apologized. "Sorry for pulling you in like that, but Malfoy didn't seem too happy that I had rejected his help."

Daphne let up on her glare. "It's alright, I suppose, just surprised."

"What was the deal between you and Malfoy?" asked Harry.

"Nothing," came a curt reply. Daphne frowned and looked out the window, indicating that she wouldn't talk farther on the subject.

Harry decided to drop it. Looking out the widow, he noticed that the sun had set, and that in the distance around he could see a small village. The train started turning towards the village. An announcement came on over the train, Harry guessed it was a magical announcement. "We will be arriving at Hogwarts in 5 minutes, please leave your luggage on board, they will be taken separately."

Shortly afterwards, Hermione came back into the compartment. "Sorry, I was just getting out of the corridor, the kids are behaving so _childishly_ , running all over the corridor. Honestly, they might get in trouble before they even get to school."

The train started decelerating and Harry gathered up some of the uneaten treats and put them into his pocket. He felt rather nervous about Hogwarts and felt the butterflies in his stomach. He noticed that Hermione seemed to be thrumming with energy, bouncing lightly on her toes. Daphne appeared nervous too. Her face slightly pale as she took deep slow breaths. Together the three of them headed out of the compartment when the train finally came to a stop. Making their way through the crowded corridor they came out onto the platform. Harry shivered slightly in the cold night air.

Harry heard a familiar voice call out over the excited chatter of the crowd. "First years! First years over here!" Harry headed in the direction of the voice, spotting a lantern being held high over the crowd of the students. It illuminated the face of Hagrid, whom Harry remembered running into at the bank with Professor Flitwick.

"'Ello Harry!" Hagrid greeted as they approached. "First years! First years over here!"

"Bloody hell!" Ron exclaimed in surprise, looking up at the half giant.

"Language!" Hermione scolded. Ron just gave her a glare before staring back up at the half-giant.

Once a sizable group had gathered there Hagrid turned and led them down a path to the side. Harry watched as the rest of the students filtered through the station towards the village proper.

"Watch your step, first years. Anymore first years? Mind your step here." Hagrid led them down a slippery steep path until they came to the edge of a lake. "You'll be getting your first view of Hogwarts soon enough." Hagrid led them out to the shore where there were a series of boats waiting for them. "No more than four to a boat. Careful now. Watch your step, and help each other in." Hagrid got into his own boat the rest of the students filled into their own boats.

Ron stepped into a boat first. Harry shrugged and followed him onto it, before turning around. Daphne seemed to be hesitant to be in a boat with Ron, but took Harry's hand, giving him a pleasant smile. After she settled down, Harry helped Hermione into the boat too before settling himself down in the back.

Harry glanced around, and was able to make out some of the faces that occupied other boats. Susan whispered excitedly to a blond girl next to her, Harry guessed she was Hannah. Draco sat with his two body guards and another boy.

"Right then, everyone settled in?" Hagrid asked, seeing no one on the shore he shouted a "FORWARD!"

The boats glided forward, barely disturbing the smooth glass-like reflective surface of the water. Harry saw the reflection of the castle first, the twinkling lanterns and flickering lights that lit up the side of the castle. Harry looked up to see the imposing face of the castle rise up above the cliff side. Most of the other students were shocked silent.

They glided ever smoothly forward until they came to some ivy hanging over the cliff. Hagrid gave the warning to keep their heads down as they passed through the ivy curtain, coming through a small tunnel to an enclosed mini harbor. The boats bumped up to the rocky shore and Hagrid told them all to dismount.

Ron once again leapt out of the boat, looking up at the castle before him. Hermione and Daphne clambered out after him with some struggle, before they both turned to aid Harry in getting out of the boat.

"Oy! Is this your frog?" Hagrid pointed out to a toad sitting on the rocks.

"Trevor!" The boy came forward and scooped him up. Malfoy and his bodyguards snickered off to the side.

Hagrid lead them up the shore and towards the castle. They passed through a courtyard and came to the large castle doors. "Alright, everyone ready?" Not waiting for a response, the half-giant turned to the giant doors and knocked on the giant doors with his fist three times.

* * *

A/N: Oops, a bit late on the post this week. For those of you concerned that Ron will be part of the group: rest assured he will not be. He's just kinda… there, also he'll probably be like the brash Lestrade, which actually, now that I think about it, puts Draco into position as someone like Gregson or some other minor detective in opposition with Lestrade—but not Holmes/Potter.

I should be a bit better with a post next week (as a hip injury puts me mostly in bed :/). So, tell me what you think, thoughts on Daphne's character (a distinctly different character than the Daphne I write in my other story), thoughts on other characters, thoughts on my inability to create intrigue, thoughts on the story in general. I think past this chapter, there will be a steady decrease in canon dialogue that appears.

Anyways, next week: Hogwarts sorting ceremony (and perhaps the first classes {see Harry set things up at school and other possibly interesting events}).


	6. The Sorting

_Disclaimer: I don't own the Potterverse, just tinkering with it._

* * *

 **A Study in Magic**

==-v-==

Chapter 6: _The Sorting  
_

-v-

The doors swung open and a stern looking professor greeted them. She had dark hair and wore emerald green robes. She met the students gaze, glancing at each and every one of them. Her eyes seemed to linger on Harry for a split second longer than the rest.

"The first years, Professor McGonagall," said Hagrid, offering them to her. Harry realized that this was the deputy headmistress.

"Thank you, Hagrid. I will take them from here." Professor McGonagall gestured them all to follow her as she turned back and pushed the door wide open. Harry looked around, taking in the size of the entrance hall. Harry imagined the Dursley's home could fit in here, and there might still be room to spare.

Up the marble stairs and across the flagged stone floor, McGonagall lead the students towards a set of doors. Beyond the large one, Harry could hear a loud drone of voices. Harry guessed that the other students must have been behind that door. McGonagall lead them instead to another room that lead to a side chamber off the hall. The students crowded in to the room and looked around, each of them in varying states of nervousness.

"Welcome to Hogwarts," said the professor. "The start-of-term banquet will begin shortly, but before you take your seats in the Great Hall, you will be sorted into your houses. The Sorting is a very important ceremony because, while you are here, your house will be something like your family within Hogwarts. You will have classes with the rest of your house, sleep in your house dormitory, and spend free time in your house common room.

"The four houses are called Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. Each house has its own noble history and each has produced outstanding witches and wizards. While you are at Hogwarts, your triumphs will earn your house points, while any rule-breaking will lose house points. At the end of the year, the house with the most points is awarded the house cup, a great honor. I hope each of you will be a credit to whichever house becomes yours.

"The Sorting Ceremony will take place in a few minutes in front of the rest of the school. I suggest you all smarten yourselves up as much as you can while you are waiting."

Her stern gaze fell upon a few of the students. Harry felt a little self conscious and tried to flatten his hair slightly, to no avail.

"Please quietly wait, I shall return when we are ready for you." Professor McGonagall headed out the door. For the brief moment the door opened, the a loud wave of voices crashed upon the students.

Harry looked around, and then asked Hermione what some of the other students were wondering. "How exactly do they sort us into houses?"

Hermione was opened her mouth to say something when she was cut off by Ron, who had overheard the question.

"Some sort of test, I think, Fred told me that it hurts a lot, but I think he was joking." Ron didn't look too sure though. Harry noticed some of the other student's reactions. He spotted Daphne smirking and rolling her eyes, she wasn't the only one, some of the other students had a similar reaction. Other students seemed to have the opposite reaction, and they were even more nervous about the thing. The looked around nervously, and started whispering to each other. Hermione seemed to frown, before she started muttering to herself various spells that could help her pass some painful test.

Harry was about to ask someone else what the actual sorting was when he was shocked by what he saw. He gave a startled gasp as some of the other students around him also yelped out in shock. A few students even let out a startled scream. A group of some twenty pale translucent ghosts streamed through the back wall.

"We should give him another chance, I mean, he hasn't done that much harm yet."

"My dear Friar, haven't we given him more chances than he deserves? He drags all of us down with his behavior!" The ghost paused and stopped floating along, suddenly aware of the students that were all watching them. "I say, what are you all doing here?"

Most of the students stared at them blankly.

"New students!" the Friar said, smiling and waving at all of them. "I suppose you are about to be sorted?"

Harry and a few of the other students managed to nod slowly.

"Hope to see you in Hufflepuff then! My old house, you know."

"Come along now, the sorting ceremony is about to start." Professor McGonagall had returned and beckoned them through the door. The ghosts took another look at the students before they floated through the wall into the room the first years were about to head to.

"Now, form a line and follow me," Professor McGonagall ordered them.

Harry got into the line as the conglomeration of students straightened out. He found himself behind Daphne and ahead of Hermione. Together they shuffled into the hall way back towards the large double doors. The drone of voices could still be heard through the thick doors.

Professor McGonagall approached the doors and pushed them open and lead the first years into the Great Hall.

Harry took a moment to take in the size and splendor of the hall. Lit by thousands of candles that were floating in midair above the four long tables, where the rest of the students were sitting. The tables were laid out in shiny silverware and glittering gold goblets. At the top of the hall a long table sat horizontal to the four tables where the teachers were sitting. Professor McGonagall lead them around to stand just in front of the staff table, so they were facing the other students and the hundreds of faces looking at them. Harry noticed some of the ghosts were intermingled with the tables, some sitting normally next to students that made room for them, others chose to float above the tables, and a few floated in the middle of the table, making their pale-white transparent heads look like it was served up on a golden platter.

Harry felt the stares of many students linger on him, to avoid catching anyone's eyes he looked up. He was surprised at what he saw—or rather what he thought was missing. The walls that climbed up towards the ceiling seemed to disappear part way up and vanished into the night sky. Harry couldn't spot any stars in the sky with all the candles floating between him and the sky.

Harry guessed that there was a ceiling there, just that it was magicked to be invisible, or rain or snow would be a problem. Sure enough Hermione confirmed his suspicions when she whispered, "It's bewitched to look like the outside sky. It was in _Hogwarts, A History_."

Harry was still impressed, it did look like the Great Hall's walls just vanished into the sky. Harry heard some footsteps to the side, and looked over to see Professor McGonagall setting down a four legged stool and placing an old pointed wizard's hat on top of it. The hat looked rather worn and frayed, clearly have seen quite a few years of use. The front of the hat even had tear in it.

Harry wondered what they had to do with the hat. Maybe it was test of magic and they had to repair it? Or perhaps they had to pull a rabbit from the hat? Everyone in the hall focused their attention on the hat. There was silence for a few moments before the hat gave a twitch. The tear near the brim opened like a mouth and seemed to make the noise of sucking in air—then the hat began to sing:

" _Oh, you may not think I'm pretty,_

 _But don't judge on what you see,_

 _I'll eat myself if you can find_

 _A smarter hat than me._

 _You can keep your bowlers black,_

 _Your top hats sleek and tall,_

 _For I'm the Hogwarts Sorting Hat_

 _And I can cap them all._

 _There's nothing hidden in your head_

 _The Sorting Hat can't see,_

 _So try me on and I will tell you_

 _Where you ought to be._

 _You might belong in Gryffindor,_

 _Where dwell the brave at heart,_

 _Their daring, nerve, and chivalry_

 _Set Gryffindors apart;_

 _You might belong in Hufflepuff,_

 _Where they are just and loyal,_

 _Those patient Hufflepuffs are true_

 _And unafraid of toil;_

 _Or yet in wise old Ravenclaw,_

 _If you've a ready mind,_

 _Where those of wit and learning._

 _Will always find their kind;_

 _Or perhaps in Slytherin_

 _You'll make your real friends,_

 _Those cunning folk use any means_

 _To achieve their ends._

 _So put me on! Don't be afraid!_

 _And don't get in a flap!_

 _You're in safe hands (though I have none)_

 _For I'm a Thinking Cap!"_

All the students in the hall clapped their hands as the hat finished it songs. It gave each of the four tables a small bow before it stopped moving sat silent again.

"So we've just had to put on a hat? Fred was talking about wrestling a troll!" Ron complained in a loud whisper to no one in particular.

Harry looked over at the hat, wondering which house he would exactly be put into. Each house sounded like it had it's merits.

Pulling out a long roll of parchment from her robes, Professor McGonagall stepped forward. "When I call your name, you will put on the hat and sit on the stool to be sorted," she said. "Abbott, Hannah!"

A girl with blond pigtails stumbled out of the line and sat down on the stool, nervously putting the hat on her head. The hat fell right over her eyes, a few sizes too large. A moment later the hat made its decision it shouted out a-

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

The table on second on the left gave a cheer and applauded loudly. Hannah was followed closely by her friend Susan, who also only took the hat a few moments to decide to sort into the just and loyal house. The sorting went fairly quickly after that. A boy named Terry Boot was the first to be sorted into Ravenclaw, the second table on the right gave a loud cheer and welcomed him into their house. Mandy Brocklehurst followed Boot into Ravenclaw. Lavander Brown became the first Gryffindor, causing the far left table to erupt in loud cheers. Millicent Bulstrode was the first Slytherin to be sorted, causing the last table on the right to erupt in cheers. Harry noted that it seemed more tame compared to the other tables cheering.

Harry was reminded of being picked for teams during gym for his old school days. He wouldn't get picked, not because he was bad, but because of no one wanted to draw the attention of Dudley. Harry had to remind himself that Dudley wasn't here, and that no one here knew about Dudley. He pushed the memory aside and watched the sorting; trying to associate names and faces as they were called out.

Harry noticed that the Sorting seemed to slow down every now and then. The silence that came between the cheering marked the times the hat took longer to deliberate the placement of the student. Seamus Finnigan took nearly a minute to sort.

Harry noticed that was relatively short compared to the next sorting. Hermione Granger sat on the stool and jammed the hat on. Harry couldn't see her eyes or brows by the way the hat fell over her eyes too, but she did seem to be chewing her lip in concentration. The hat twitched slightly and Hermione still seemed to be thinking about something. One full minute passed. Then another. Nearly a third full minute passed before the hat yelled out-

"GRYFFINDOR!"

Ron gave a groan to the side, but Harry ignored it, trying to figure out why the hat had taken so long.

Next up Daphne was called and stepped up the to stool. She calmly walked up the stool and sat down, before gently lowering the hat onto her head. The hat pondered for a short time and Harry notice a frown appear on her features. The hat sat silent for just a bit longer before yelling out a "SLYTHERIN!"

Daphne got up, her frown disappeared, though she shot Harry a quick glance before heading over to the table.

Harry idly wondered if any student had ever been unable to be sorted, if they just didn't fit into any of the houses. Maybe there was a time limit to the sorting, and if you weren't sorted in a certain amount of time they'd be sent home. Harry pushed that nervous thought out of his mind too.

The sorting was rapidly approaching 'M', after Neville Longbottom had ran off towards the Gryffindor table with the hat still on his head. He had to return it back so Morag MacDougal, to the laughter of some of the other students.

Draco Malfoy was called up, and he calmly swaggered forward to the seat. The hat barely touched his head before it bellowed out "SLYTHERIN!"

He grinned and walked over to join Crabbe and Goyle at the Slytherin table.

Harry noted that there weren't that many people left. Lillian Moon, Theodore Nott, Pansy Parkinson, twins Padma and Parvarti Patil—they got sorted into different houses, surprising Harry slightly, Sally-Ann Perks.

Then it was his turn. "Potter, Harry!" professor McGonagall called out.

Instead of the usual silence during the sorting, his name was met with frantic whispers hissing throughout the hall. Harry could catch snatches from the closer students as he walked towards the stool.

"Did I hear that correct? _Potter?"_

" _The_ Harry Potter?"

"The Boy-who-lived?"

Harry sat down and put on the hat, feeling it fall over his eyes. He was grateful that the hat covered his eyes, he wouldn't have to look at anyone.

A voice whispered in the back of his mind. "Hmm. Difficult. Very difficult. Quite courageous, certainly quite smart too. Plenty of talent and a thirst to prove yourself. Now where to put you? You'd fit well into any house."

The hat fell silent for a bit. Harry sat there for a bit, trying to figure out which house he would put himself into.

"Ahh, so you wish to be an Auror? Great Aurors have come from every house. Ah! But that is who you want to be? Very well, then I shall put you where you may find the most help-"

"RAVENCLAW!"

Harry felt a bit relieved at finally being sorted. The Ravenclaws cheered the loudest they had all night, excitedly exclaiming that they got Potter. Harry moved towards the table and sat down near some of the other first years. He sat down next to an older student wearing a blue badge with an eagle and 'P' on it.

Once he sat down he looked around, most of the Ravenclaws were still cheering around him. He got a few people clapping him on his back and shaking his hand. The table soon settled down again as Professor McGonagall cleared her throat and tried to continue with the Sorting Ceremony.

Harry got a good look at the head table from where he sat. He could just see Professor Flitwick above the table giving him a broad cheerful smile and a wave. Hagrid, sitting on the end of the table, also gave him a smile, as did Professor Dumbledore, whom Harry recognized from the chocolate frog card earlier. Harry noticed a slightly disappointed look gracing Professor McGonagall's features when he caught her eye, but she the look quickly disappeared as she readopted her stern gaze. Harry looked along the table noticing one of the other teachers glaring at him.

Harry made a note at ask about that teacher after the sorting finished, and went back to paying attention to the sorting. With a just a few students left, Harry watched the remaining students get sorted. Gryffindors got Sophie Roper, Dean Thomas, and Ron Weasley. Slytherins gained Alyssa Runcorn and Blaise Zabini. Oliver Rivers and Sally Smith joined the Hufflepuff table, and the Ravenclaws recieved Lisa Turpin as their last member.

After the Sorting finished and Professor McGonagall put away the stool and the hat, Professor Dumbledore stood up and gestured his arms out. He smiled broadly at all the students as they fell silent to hear his opening remarks.

"Welcome! To those new students, welcome to Hogwarts; to the returning students, welcome back! Now before begin with the feast, I would like to share a few words." He paused for a moment, as if trying to remember what the words were. "Here are the words: Nitwit! Blubbler! Oddment! Tweak!

"Thank you!"

He sat back down as the other students clapped and cheered. Harry looked around confused. Were those words special words in the magical world? He leaned over to the prefect he was sitting next to.

"Is he—Is he a bit mad?" he asked.

"Mad?" the Prefect just shrugged. "Possibly, though he certainly is smart. Discovering the uses for dragon blood and all that, but he might be a bit mad too."

Harry looked up at the old wizard for a bit longer before his attention was caught by the prefect again. "I'm Robert Hilliard, by the way. I'll be one of your prefects." He shook hands with Harry. "Now, help yourself." He gestured towards the food.

Harry was amazed at all the food that had appeared on the plates in the center of the table. There was more food here than Harry had seen in one place, and they were all things that he enjoyed eating: roast beef, roast chicken, pork chops, lamb chops, potatoes of all sorts… everything.

Harry gathered a little bit of everything and started eating. While he was never actively starved by the Dursleyes, Dudley certainly did eat more than his fair share, leaving little for Harry. Harry dug in and enjoyed the deliciously cooked food.

Harry kept eating but listened in on some of the conversations that passed between the students. Some of the older students were talking about their past summers and what they did. The other first years were starting to converse with each other, they were telling each other about their families

"My mum is a muggle, she was in for quite a shock when my dad told her about magic. I think he only told her because of the weird things that happened around me and he suspected I was a wizard." said Michael Corner.

"Both my parents are muggles. They were very confused when Professor Sprout showed up for my introduction to the magical world. I mean, I was confused about the letter, but it did explain some things." Terry Boot added in. He then turned to Harry. "So how about you?"

Harry noticed some of the students widened there eyes, shocked.

"Err… I didn't really know my parents." He replied sheepishly. "From what I was told, my mum was a muggleborn witch, and my father was pureblood wizard."

Terry furrowed his brows together. "What do you mean you didn't really know your parents?"

One of the girls who had been listening in on the conversation leaned over. "He's Harry Potter!"

"Err…?" He seemed to be at a loss.

The girl leaned over and started telling him all about Harry. Harry was about to interrupt, saying that he wasn't special when he felt a sting in his scar.

"Ouch!" he rubbed his forehead. Looking up he noticed one of the teachers glaring at him. He was looking past the nervous teacher with the turban. They seemed to whispering things to each other, while the teacher with the greasy hair and hooked nose glared at him.

"Who are those two teachers on the end there?" Harry asked Hilliards, pointing towards the close end of the head table.

"Oh them? The one with the turban is Professor Quirrell. He was the muggle studies teacher, but he took a break and went to Romania or somewhere for a year or so. He came back and now he's our DADA teacher—err Defense Against the Dark Arts." Hilliards added at seeing Harry's confusion at the abbreviation.

"The other teacher is Professor Snape. He teaches potions, and he's Slyherin's head of house. Though he's been after the DADA position for years. He was pretty angry this year that Professor Quirrell got it over him, though they say that Professor Quirrell ran into a vampire during his trip."

Harry nodded at the explanation. He noticed that Professor Snape wasn't looking at him anymore, and after a few moments of observing him, didn't receive another glare from the professor. Harry finished up his treacle tart for desert and as he did all the food on the tables disappeared.

Professor Dumbledore stood up again, and held out his arms. The students took notice and fell silent, waiting for his words.

"Ahem—now that we are all well fed, I would like to give out a few start-of-term notices.

"First years should be aware that the forest on the grounds is forbidden to all pupils. Older students should do well to remember that as well.

"I have also been asked by Mr. Filch, our caretaker, to remind you that no magic should be used between classes in the corridors.

"Quidditch trials will be held in the second week of the term, those interested in playing should contact Madam Hooch.

"And finally, the third-floor corridor on the right-hand side is out of bounds to everyone who does not wish to die a very painful death."

Harry laughed at that. Only a few other students did too though. Harry suddenly had a horrifying thought. "He's not serious is he?" He asked Hilliards.

"Usually he gives warnings like that for a good reason. Almost had a student killed a few years back by venturing into the forbidden forest. I'd heed his warning."

Harry thought that was strange. This was school after all, and telling people to not go somewhere would almost certainly cause them to go there.

Harry put it aside for now. Dumbledore released the students and the first years followed the prefects to their respective common rooms. Harry followed the others out into the corridors and headed up a few flights of stairs. Harry tried to remember where everything was as he passed, but with moving portraits—which he noted seemed to go from painting to painting—meant that landmarks were hard to come by.

They were told to be careful at one of the stairs because it had a vanishing step, and they had to skip that step or risk falling down. Eventually they came to the top of a tower. A door with an eagle knocker awaited them.

"This is the Ravenclaw Common Room's entrance, to actually enter you'll have to answer the eagle's riddle. Let us see if one of you first years can solve it.

He reached for the knocker and knocked on the door.

The eagle opened its mouth and spoke out a riddle:

" _I am that which happy men desire._

 _and that which the poor retain._

 _I am that which the rich require,_

 _and what you keep when you pass from this plane._

 _What am I?"_

The first years took it all in and then looked at each other, breaking out into whispers as they tried to decipher the answer to the riddle.

* * *

WC: 3949

A/N: Sorry this took me a bit longer to post up, got a bit busy this past week (between a hip and a wrist injury from sports and general craziness...), and I'll likely be even busier next week as I go out on vacation! I'll try to get up the next chapter early next week, and get back on schedule. So anyone knows the answer to this riddle? Its a fairly easy and common one.

PM me with typos if you spot any.


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